Kids prefer humorous TVCs to celebrity endorsements: Survey

Today's kids are more vocal and their influence in purchasing decision have grown exponentially in the last few years. This trend is quite visible from the fact that the number of traditional advertisements has grown on kids channel. An in-depth study on Indian kids - New Generations - done by Cartoon Network and TNS reveals which type of television commercials are liked more by kids.

As per the study, more kids like humorous commercials better than a film star or a sports personality endorsing a brand. Among kids (age 7-14), 42 per cent of kids likes advertisements that make them laugh. Among boys, the number is slightly higher as 43 per cent of boys like humorous ads.

Among all types of television commercials, the ones with good music is the second favourite among kids. Twenty-two per cent of total kids like commercials with hummable music. In this case, the number of the girls is higher, as 23 per cent of girls enjoy these kinds of commercials as compared to 20 per cent in boys.

Commercials featuring film stars are liked by 15 per cent of the kids, where as commercials featuring a sports personality is preferred by only 8 per cent of the kids. In fact, commercials that features children are favourites of 9 per cent of kids. Commercials where babies endorse brands are favourites of only 3 per cent of the kids.

And among durables - where kids have the maximum influence on purchasing decisions - computers top the list. In computers, 44 per cent of the instances saw kids influencing purchasing decisions. In 3 per cent of these transactions, purchases were totally influenced by the kid's decision, and in 29 per cent of cases, the kid's opinion was considered before purchasing a computer. And in 12 per cent of cases, the kid's choice played an important role.

Duncan Morris, vice-president, research, Turner International Asia Pacific, says, "Computers is a category where kids tend to know more than their parents."

Music system is the second product category where the kid's influence is maximum. In 43 per cent cases, kids influenced the purchase of the brand. In 1 per cent of case, the purchase was done totally based on kid's decision. Similarly, kid's opinion and kid's choice played an important role in 32 per cent and 10 per cent of cases, respectively.

While speaking to agencyfaqs, Morris says, "Kids might not insist on the brand of certain products like a car or a television set but certainly they speak their mind about the features they look for in the product."

In case of television sets, cars and mobile phone, the kids influence the purchases in 42 per cent, 34 per cent and 33 per cent of the cases, respectively. In case of products which are used by the kids themselves, their influence in purchase is certainly the maximum. In case of toys, it is at 66 per cent; in case of sports shoes, it is 60 per cent.

And, among different types of toys, while 35 per cent of boys like electronic toys and toy guns, 33 per cent of kids like toy cars. WWF superstars are also favourites among 29 per cent of the boy kids.

Similarly for girls, soft toys are the most favourite as 44 per cent of the girls prefer them, where as 43 per cent prefer kitchen sets.

The study also reveals some interesting facts about the television viewing habits of the Indian kids. When questioned about their favourite television genre, 84 per cent of kids voted for cartoons, while 36 per cent opted for sports. Interestingly, 30 per cent of the kids liked comedy serials.

While both among boys and girls, cartoons remain the hot favourites - with 86 per cent of boys and 81 per cent of girls voting for cartoons - girls prefer serials (both comedy and family) to sports and movies. Among girls, 33 per cent voted for the comedy serials, while 31 per cent voted for family serials. Movies and sports came next with 25 and 21 per cent of votes, respectively.

In case of boys, sports remained their second favourite - with 50 per cent of the respondents voting for it - followed by comedy serials and movies, which received 27 per cent and 22 per cent of the votes, respectively. Family serials do not seem to be very popular among boys as only 16 per cent liked watching them.

Kids programmes were favourites among only 24 per cent girls and 20 per cent boys. Interestingly, dance and music programmes are more popular among girls than boys. While 17 per cent of the girls liked these programmes, only 6 per cent of boys voted for it.

© 2004 agencyfaqs!