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As per New Generations, a study conducted by Cartoon Network on children and their media habits, kids watch television the most between 7 pm and 9 pm on weekdays, which is also the adult prime-time band
So far, 4 pm to 7 pm was considered the prime-time viewing band for children aged 7-14 years. But, according to New Generations, Cartoon Network’s annual study on children and their media habits, the prime-time band for children (aged 7-14 years) is quite similar to that of adults – from 7 pm to 9 pm on a typical weekday.
On weekends, however, viewership is spread throughout the day, right from 8 am till 10 pm, with viewership reaching its peak between 6 pm and 9 pm.
Both girls and boys prefer to watch cartoons on television. For boys, the next best thing is sports, followed by music/dance, family serials, movies and games/quizzes, in that order. For girls, however, cartoons are followed by movies, music/dance, games/quizzes, family serials and sports.
Another interesting trend that was noticed was the difference in the attitudes of parents with very young kids (4-6 year olds) and parents with slightly older kids (7-14 year olds). Parents of 4-6 year olds prefer their children to watch channels specifically meant for kids; they don’t advise their kids to watch GECs such as STAR Plus.
On the other hand, parents of 7-14 year olds were less averse to their children watching GECs, although their preference for their kids is also kids’ channels, by and large.
It was found that over 8 in 10 parents watch television with their kids.
With the increasing number of gadgets and gizmos that are making their appearance in India, it was found that kids are especially aware of them. A majority of kids (88 per cent) have heard of mobile phones with cameras and 74 per cent would like to own one. Interestingly, while only 7 per cent kids have heard of the Apple i-Pod, 43 per cent said they would like to own one. This led to the conclusion that despite low awareness in some categories, aspirations are high, even among kids.
It was also learnt that 84 per cent of parents take their children shopping with them. One in every four kids who accompanies parents asks for some item on the spot while shopping and, most often, gets it. Children influence parents’ buying decisions the most for categories such as television sets, followed by computers, mobile phones and cars, in that order.
It was found that on an average, children receive pocket money of Rs 154 per month (42 lakh kids, 7-14 year olds, C&S, SEC ABC in 14 cities). Around 39 per cent of the kids receive Rs 1,848 as pocket money in a year, whereas 60 per cent of them receive Rs 306 as gift money per year. These two collectively amount to Rs 364 crore a year, hinting at the increasing spending power of kids.
Among brands, Nokia was declared the ‘coolest’ brand by a majority of the children (72 per cent), followed by Sony, LG, Reliance and Samsung. Among favourite sports stars, Sachin Tendulkar expectedly featured on top of the list, followed by Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sania Mirza, who, incidentally, is the first non-cricketer to have featured among the top five in this category.
The survey was conducted across 14 cities in India on kids across four age bands (4-6, 7-9, 10-14 and 15-19) and their parents. The study was conducted by Synovate India, on behalf of Cartoon Network.
© 2006 agencyfaqs!