TV viewing is alive and well

In case you were wondering if kids were watching less TV now that we have so many new and exciting new media options, including online games, virtual worlds, consoles, iPods –not to mention the media blitz surrounding the links between TV watching and childhood obesity— in fact, TV watching is actually on the rise. At an eight-year high, according to a new Nielsen study released yesterday.

The report states that children ages 2-5 spend an average of 32+ hours a week in front of the TV. Children ages 6-11 watch about 28 hours per week. TV watching is now defined as watching what is currently on TV, watching playback programming via DVR, DVDs and videos.

As the Nielsen report states, "While 97% of kids’ viewing is through live TV, younger kids spend more time than the older group viewing via DVR, DVD and, to a lesser extent, VCR. Four percent of kids aged 2-5 watch via those devices on average across total day compared to 2.3% for those aged 6-11. Their considerable use of these devices at a young age points to them being able to adopt new devices comfortably as they grow up."


Also of note, especially for you media literacy types: younger children watch more commercials than the older kids. Is anyone surprised?

Educating Kids (and Moms) About Advertising

Holy government intervention, Batman! Two things happened this week that caused me to smile:

1.The FTC finally issued a crackdown on mommy bloggers who write product endorsements without disclosing their relationships with those products (i.e. they got the products for free or—even better—they are getting paid to write the review) and
2. The FTC is also reviewing standards and practices around advertising to kids.

As David Vladeck, the new director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection is quoted in this week's MediaPost article "The distinction between ads and other content is often blurred to the point that even older kids may not get when they are being pitched," he said. "The goals are to teach kids to be aware of ads, analyze and understand them, and the benefits of being an informed consumer."

The FTC actions include a new educational campaign aimed at tweens next year that will teach kids how to recognize and analyze advertising.

That's all fine and good, but what about the advertisers? As Meredith from YPulse points out in her update from this week's CARU conference, the discussions centered around "reconciling the unilateral marketing standards of the past with the ubiquitous connectivity and multiple platforms of the new media landscape. As the regulatory processes continue to be fine tuned and consumers of all ages become more active players (whether as Facebook fans, content creators, bloggers, etc.), we see a shift from messaging as a one-way broadcast to an ongoing dialogue with youth."

It's an interesting issue and one that is going to be mighty tough to regulate when the lines between advertising, editorial, social media, wireless communications and even mommy’s blog are blurred.

Marketers love tweens and moms right now. And why wouldn't they? Collectively tweens have a spending power of over $30 billion and they influence about 70% of household purchases. And their mothers, who influence 85 percent of their household purchases, collectively spend about $2.1 trillion per year.

Women and children of America, unite! The advertising issue is one that by and large, will be solved by you. Education begins at home.

Miley Cyrus mega marketing--oops I mean concert-- review

It wasn’t the $39.50 tickets that somehow turned into $75 with fees and taxes. Or the hour-plus drive to and from Tacoma. Or the collective eardrum-piercing high-pitched screams from thousands of pre-teen girls. Or the wait to buy overpriced concert merchandise like a $10 glow stick (that should not have cost more than 25 cents.) Or the Walmart mannequins and banners lining the walls promoting the new Miley Cyrus clothing line. Or even the fashion booths (also Walmart) where moms and girls lined up their picture taken in front of a green screen next to Miley and other models wearing her new clothing line. No, no. I fully expected and embraced all of that.

The surprise was that the Miley/Disney/Walmart/Touchstone/ marketing machine took center stage on stage and passed for entertainment. Now, I know what you’re thinking… I’m in the business; nothing should shock me, right? Advertising is the new entertainment. But after having to suffer through the opening act (Metro Station, headed by Miley’s brother Trace Cyrus), the band closed with "Shake it" which also doubled as a…. Walmart advertisement. Every single video screen was devoted to promoting the Miley Cyrus clothing line as models danced on a runway showing off their new threads. Admittedly, the video was well produced and the song was catchy, but still. It’s an ad. On stage. Tacky.

That was just the beginning, the icebreaker if you will (incidentally, Miley herself opened up the show pounding inside a fake chunk of ice and then had a “Breakout” moment where she suddenly appeared amidst ‘fire’ and smoke—very This is Spinal Tap if you ask me but I digress…). Where was I? Oh right, back to the advertising-as-entertainment. Three or four songs into her performance, Miley paused for reflective moment. She told us about what a great summer she had on Tybee Island in Georgia: “It really gave me a chance to connect with people I love most in my life…” she said. “And now… to show you what I’m talking about, I’d like to show you a clip from my latest movie, The Last Song.” Really? We get to watch a movie trailer in the middle of a concert? Disney/Touchstone, you’ve reached a new low. I would like my money back! But wait—that's not all. Miley of course sang a few songs from the movie (the songs are not bad and Miley does truly have a lovely voice when she’s not screaming or violently flipping her hair). Perhaps the concert promoters thought we'd get bored if there wasn't enough going on on stage during one of her slow songs, so they played more movie clips while she sang. Why bother to go see the movie when you can see all the main scenes during the concert? Good grief.

I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who's bothered by this kind of insidious marketing. My 7 year-old daughter, her friend and the thousands of other little girls at the Tacoma Dome thought it was the best of both worlds.

Back to school retail roundup

If you’ve seen the trailer for The September Issue, a documentary film about the fashion industry, you’ll understand why fall is such a critical time.

For kid, tween and teen retailers, back to school is the equivalent of the September issue.

While the economy has affected the situation somewhat, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2009 Back to School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average family with students in grades kindergarten through 12 is expected to spend $548.72 on school merchandise, a decline of 7.7 percent from $594.24 in 2008. Total spending on back to school is expected to reach $17.42 billion. 2009 back-to-college and back-to-school spending combined will total $47.50 billion.

And that's about it for the bad news. The good news? According to recent research from Burst Media on back-to-school shopping habits, "only 15.7% of shoppers will spend less money this back-to-school season and almost one-quarter (24.9%) will actually spend more money than last year."

So, then, where is everyone shopping? Which retailers have the best merchandise? Which brands have the best campaigns?

Ypulse featured a great post yesterday "What Worked in This Year's Back to School Campaigns." It's a terrific summary of this year's best BTS promotions and current youth marketing best practices.

Our favorites? Nordstrom's Twilight Saga: New Moon promotion, including exclusive movie merchandise, Kmart's "Schoolebrity" campaign, featuring a sweepstakes, games and special layaway programs, and Sears' "Arrive Lounge” featuring celebrity Selena Gomez.

Let us know your favorites as well. Also, Targeting Kids is on the lookout for cause-related marketing campaigns (both current and up and coming) that target kids, tweens or teens so please let us know about those too.

Happy back to school shopping!

What PBS can teach us about educational children’s media

PBS Kids recently earned the distinction as the #1 educational children’s media brand, according to a new GFK Roper survey that polled over 1,000 U.S. adults in April, asking questions about PBS Kids as compared to Leapfrog, Nick, Jr., Playhouse Disney, Noggin, Discovery Kids, National Geographic Kids, KOL (a.k.a AOL for Kids) and YahooKids, among others.

Surprise? Not to those who already know and love all things PBS Kids, including popular programs/brands such as Sesame Street, Word World, Super Why and Cyberchase.

According to the study, “PBS KIDS excels at addressing key curriculum areas and children’s cognitive and social/emotional developmental needs. Respondents concurred that PBS succeeds in delivering important topics to young viewers with reading and literacy (80%) ranking as the topic that PBS speaks to best. Other developmental areas that follow literacy include the arts (75%), science/technology/engineering/math (74%), social/emotional development (74%), healthy living (73%), and the environment (71%).”

Can any other educational children's brands be held to such a high standard? Apparently not. Truth be told, the FCC is partially to blame. The Children's Television Act (CTA) enacted by Congress in 1990, requires broadcasters to provide at least three hours a week of educational/informational (E/I) programming for kids between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. But there's no definition of what "educational" actually means. Therefore, it's no big surprise that a 2008 Annenberg study found that merely 25% of E/I shows were of "minimal educational value." Worse, nearly 70% of the shows aimed at school-age kids contained violence and harsh language.

But this blog isn't aimed at parents who have ample reason to turn off their television sets forever. It's targeted at you (and me): the children's media producer, the brand marketer, the content creator, the television executive, the toy licensor; those of us who fuel the amazing machine that churns out kids media and the related "stuff" that goes along with it. You and I both know that a lot of it is pure crap. And that it contains absolutely no educational value whatsoever.

So now what? I say take a few pointers from PBS Kids. Here are a few:

1. Establish a curriculum. Don't know how to do this? Hire a curriculum consultant! There are plenty of them out there and they would love to work with you.
2. Pick a subject area (or two) and stick with it - i.e. math/science, social/emotional, language development. Keep it simple, keep it fun.
3. Form an educational advisory board (yes, with real educators and child development specialists) to review scripts, storyboards, even licensing deals - to ensure that everything is on brand and that the content meets the highest standards possible.
4. Determine how you will measure the success and educational outcomes of your children's media property (hint: your curriculum consultant and/or educational advisory board can help you do this).
5. Get an independent, ideally educationally-based organization to conduct a research study or brand audit. For example, a Georgetown University study, "Educational TV: 30 Years of Sesame Street Research" found that the children who had watched more Sesame Street as young children had higher school performance as adolescents, as measured by grades in English, math, science and overall GPA.

Can your children's media brand pass the test?