The Insights Family – a global leader in kids, parents and family market intelligence – assesses how children are influenced through their interactions with the digital world.
Collaborations between brands are increasing in popularity and becoming more common across multiple industries. As kids continue to spend more time on their devices and interacting with the digital world, their preference toward their favourite IPs continues to grow and expand.
As a result, kids are looking to express themselves more than ever before. This can be seen through things such as the toys they play with and the clothes that they wear, as they present themselves in their own way. It forms part of their personality.
They want to be part of the story across an ecosystem with many touch points, whether this is offline, online, or both. The types of media where kids’ favourite brands and IPs originate from continue to shift. While properties emerging from TV, books and media remain ever-popular, IPs emerging from more interactive digital media such as video games, YouTube and TikTok, consistently grow in popularity.
This is reflected within our data, as kids are beginning to shift the way they express themselves to match what they are interested in in the digital world. Over the last six months, kids aged 6 to 12 have shown a +61% and a +53% increase in cosmetic and fashion purchases related to their favourite video game and YouTuber, respectively.
Furthermore, over a third of kids aged 6 to 9 in the UK report to owning branded goods both in real life and in a digital space.
This demonstrates how newer IPs such as YouTubers, interactive media and influencers can engage kids and allow them to feel part of a wider community. This desire from kids to feel represented by a brand and their favourite IP is on the rise.
For example, kids aged 3 to 5 have shown a +62% increase in clothing purchases related to their favourite YouTubers, and kids aged 6 to 12 also show a +20% increase. On top of this, 19% of kids aged 10 to 12 in the UK report purchasing clothing in relation to their favourite video game, with this increasing by +50% over the last six months.
Additionally, the influence kids hold over their parents and their purchasing decisions is growing. Over the last six months, 86% of parents with kids aged 1 to 13 in the UK say that their kids influence the clothes that they buy for them to wear, with this growing by +15% over the same period.
Understanding what IPs kids connect themselves with and how this can be brought together through brands, will better help to shape a brand’s connection with its intended audience and build loyalty
With this ever-expanding interest in various IPs, both established and new, as well as the increasing influence that kids hold over their parents, satisfying kids’ changing attitudes, tastes, behaviours and consumption patterns is something that should be at the forefront of a brand’s mind. Every organisation needs their audience to feel that they resonate with the brand, what it stands for and what it represents.
This becomes amplified even more when it comes to kids, as their preferences and attention constantly shift between various brands, IPs and touchpoints. Tracking this in real-time and keeping on top of the latest trends that surround the kids and family ecosystem is essential to successfully reach and fully understand the modern audience.
About The Insights Family
The Insights Family is the global leader in kids, parents and family market intelligence, providing real-time data on their attitudes, behaviours and consumption patterns. Kids Insights surveys 7,780 children every week aged 3 to 18. Parents Insights surveys more than 3,800 parents of children between the ages of 1 and 16 every week.
Both services operate in 22 countries across six continents and in total survey more than 469,040 kids and 228,800 parents a year. This means that the company interviews a new family member somewhere in the world every 45 seconds.
*All data from the last 6 months of Kids Insights data (April 2022 – September 2022). To download the latest report, please click here.
