Skip to main content

Kids’ Advertising Will be a $1.2 Billion Industry Worldwide in 2021

Image
By CARU Staff


A new report commissioned by kidtech group, SuperAwesome has yielded fascinating results about the future of children’s advertising. The report—researched and authored by PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PWC”)—projects that kids’ advertising will increase 20% globally by 2021; that’s an estimated $1.2 billion market.

Children’s advertising is shifting from more traditional methods like television to digital platforms, like YouTube. However, while TV advertising is declining, it still reaches a substantial portion of kids under age thirteen. Currently, the highest investment into kids’ content is channeled into subscription-based video on-demand services (think: Netflix and Amazon).  A staggering $2-3 billion dollars per year is invested into creating this content, which is not ad-funded.

It’s no surprise that, as technology has evolved and become more accessible, kids are spending increasingly more time online and are one of the fastest growing markets (one-third of internet users are children!). PWC’s report found that every second, two kids go online for the first time.

What accounts for this growth?
  • Competition between kids’ brands.
  • Increasing population of children.
  • A shift from consuming television content to consuming digital content.
  • More smartphone and tablet use.

But the report also cites potential hindrances:
  • Increase of subscription, ad-free platforms like Netflix.
  • Possible future limits on children’s screen time.
  • Brand safety concerns, especially on YouTube. However, the report predicts that YouTube’s ad spend will increase by 12% in the next few years.

In reaction to this growth, countries across the globe have either implemented or strengthened their existing regulations regarding children’s privacy. To that end, some advocates propose that the threshold age under the United States’ COPPA should be raised from thirteen to sixteen (though the report’s predictions do not reflect this potential change).

A further prediction is that, by 2021, 800 million kids worldwide would be covered by data privacy legislation. Similarly, enforcement actions will have become more prevalent. In the U.S., in addition to FTC complaints, class actions and actions commenced by attorney state generals are on the rise. So are the fines: TikTok paid up $5.7 million earlier this year for a violation (remember--this case was the result of a CARU referral!). As advertisers adapt to this tremendous expansion, compliance with regulations will clearly become increasingly important and incentivized by the threat of litigation.

To learn more, get the full report about children's advertising online.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Advocates believe Kid Influencers Deserve Same Protections as Other Child Stars

By CARU Staff
Although there are child labor laws in California that are designed to protect child stars from exploitation (The Coogan Act), the same protections don't always apply to child YouTube and Instagram stars, or kid influencers. Kid Influencers accounts are usually run by their parents since platforms like YouTube and Instagram have age limits of 13 years old. One consequence of not owning their accounts is that all profits received go directly to the guardians and, unlike traditional child actors in California, these guardians are not required to set aside some of the profits for the children. Advocates like Paul Petersen, believe the legal protections like those in California should apply to children outside of the state. Petersen has said that because YouTube is in San Bruno, California and they are paying to broadcast children, California law must apply to those child stars. Many guardians of kid influencers feel these regulations are unnecessary and that the guardians are doi...
Read more

CARU Speaks at Community Board in Manhattan

By
CARU staff attorney Andra Dallas gave a presentation to Community Board 1, serving lower Manhattan on Monday, December 7 th .  Andra spoke to the Board’s Youth Committee about the importance of teaching children about understanding advertising and safe online practices.  District Manager Noah Pfefferblit remarked, “thank you for your informative presentation to our Youth Committee members,” and offered the Board’s assistance if they “can be helpful to the important efforts at the Children's Advertising Review Unit.” Are you interested in having a CARU staff member visit your community board? Contact adallas@caru.bbb.org.
Read more

Kids Internet Design and Safety Act Seeks to Protect Children from Harmful Online Content

By CARU Staff
United States Senators, Mr. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut and Mr. Edward Markey from Massachusetts, introduced a new bill referred to as the Kids Internet Design and Safety Act (the “KIDS Act”). One of the Senator’s introducing the KIDS Act, Mr. Edward Markey, was the co-author of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). The KIDS Act seeks to include noteworthy advertising rules and create new protections for children online, specifically for online users under the age of 16. The proposed advertising rules within the KIDS Act are to ban websites from: (1) exposing young online users to advertisements “with embedded interactive elements”; (2) recommending any content involving alcohol, nicotine, or tobacco to young online users; and (3) recommending content that includes influencer marketing, like unboxing videos, or host-selling to young online users. Additionally, the KIDS Act seeks to prohibit certain online features to protect children, like prohibiting...
Read more