Updated: May 24, 2022

May 05, 2022

By Marinette Dalbard, Client Servicing Director

Changes in children’s entertainment consumption over the last two years have benefited businesses with a broad catalog of material, according to BrandTrends global measurement. Children aged 0 to 14 have consumed more, but not in a broader sense.

We’ve previously discussed how, as a result of the pandemic, everyone, even children, has spent more time on screens. It was an opportunity to try new brands, think about what the family liked to watch, and be exposed to different sorts of entertainment.

As a result, throughout the pandemic, American children spent time (re)discovering brands and getting to know them.

Post-pandemic, American children know +5.7 percent more brands than they did before the outbreak. They’ve spent more time on screens in general, skimming through platforms and TV channel replay archives.

However, when the number of brands mentioned by both genders remains steady over time, however, the number of brands named by one gender tends to drop. On the table below (Source, BrandTrends, USA, Kids 0 to 14 years old, October’21 vs. October’19, N=2,201 per period), you can see that the overall number of various brands has decreased during the last three years for top-of-mind brands:

When it comes to the volume of mentions, which has been consistent over time, respondents report more mentions on the top brands.

• April 2019: 20 top brands represent 48,6% of the mentions,
• October 2019: 20 top brands represent 47,5% of the mentions,
• April 2021: 20 top brands represent 51,7% of the mentions,
• October 2021: 20 top brands represent 59,4% of the mentions.

==> This means that leading brands are attracting the interest of an increasing number of children. While people are spending more time on screens than ever before, they are also focusing on fewer contents – in terms of brands – and companies

A certain sort of brand benefits from the combination of the requirement to satisfy increasing consumption and the higher concentration of brands and contents present in customers’ minds. The big winners are brands with extensive catalogs, who are able to supply the demand for relevant and trustworthy material (Source, BrandTrends, USA, Kids 0 to 14 years old, October’21 vs. October’19, N=2,201 per period)

A higher level of consumption necessitates a higher degree of demand and the desire for quality. To meet this demand, consumers often turn to previously established brands with a big catalogue of content that may satisfy their content cravings. There’s no need to look for additional content after the quality has been established.

This is how the top mentioned brands (Source, BrandTrends, USA, Kids 0 to 14 years old, October’21 vs. October’19, N=2,201 per period) are a combination of well-established, long-running IPs that have “large catalogues”; but also streaming companies Disney+, Amazon Prime, Netflix as a whole.

Top 10 Children’s Entertainment Brands know by kids 0-14 (US – Oct’21 – Spontaneous mentions by respondents)

1 Spongebob Squarepants

2 Tom & Jerry

3 Spider-Man

4 Disney

5 Amazon

6 Netflix

7 Mickey Mouse

8 Barbie

9 Batman

10 Superman

New issues for brands are emerging as a result of these behaviors.

For those with a lower penetration – and hence are less well-known – this will necessitate greater effort to cut through the clutter and continue to motivate customers to engage with their content.

For the established, this implies more opportunity to expand the brand portfolio, generate spin-offs, and promote new material – but it also means a need for fresh ideas that fit the brand DNA properly.