The rapid evolution of technology not only has created new opportunities for receiving and broadcasting content, but also has changed the playing field when it comes to TV programming. The digital revolution and the growth of new technologies—the internet and consumer electronics devices such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets—have made it even more challenging for TV networks and broadcasters to capture a significant share of their markets.

According to a new research report titled International Kids’ TV Trends by Eurodata TV Worldwide and MIPTV-MIPCOM, no sector has been more deeply affected by these changes than kids’ programming. Children nowadays have become natural media multi-taskers and early adopters of new interactive technologies. However, despite the plethora of high-tech gadgets to keep them busy, mediasavvy youngsters are far from abandoning the TV, and are in fact spending more time than ever in front of the small screen, according to the report. The average daily TV viewing time by kids has been increasing globally; in several countries, the growth is even remarkable. Across the main European territories, children’s TV consumption remains strong with a rise of nine minutes since 2008.

The report says that time shifted viewing (TSV) is one of the new trends that is helping to drive the increase in viewing time across the world, and audience measurement companies are increasingly taking this into account. TSV contributed to the rise in daily viewing time in both France and Italy in 2011.

French children spent 2 hours and 18 minutes every day in front of the TV last year, up by 6 minutes compared to 2010. Italian children, meanwhile, remain the biggest consumers of small screen content in Europe, with a daily viewing time of 2 hours and 42 minutes. In the United States, kids’ average daily viewing time went up by 5 minutes to 3 hours and 39 minutes last year.

Children are particularly big consumers of TV last year in Asia. China recorded an average of 2 hours and 43 minutes average daily viewing time last year; Japan, 2 hours and 44 minutes; Indonesia, 3 hours and 3 minutes; and Malaysia, 3 hours and 12 minutes a day.

It is also noted that increased channel offering as well as the ability to access shows via catch-up have contributed to the growth in children’s average daily viewing time worldwide.

Dedicated kids TV channels dominate generalist channels
The lion’s share of children’s consumption of dedicated programming is now going to free DTT (digital terrestrial television) channels, and kid-dedicated platforms are continuing to eat away at the shares of generalist channels among the younger demographic. Kids are now moving from the limited choice of children’s blocks provided by generalist channels to the 24/7 choice provided by DTT, cable and satellite TV services. In line with this, there is a decrease in the youth volume of some generalist channels that have chosen to concentrate their children’s offer on a dedicated sister channel. Case in point, UK’s ITV1 saw the proportion of children’s programmes in its schedules drastically drop from 10% to 3% in favour of its sister channel CITV.

In the UK, BBC’s children’s channels CBBC and Cbeebies are continuing to increase in strength, with shares on the 4 – 15 demographic once again up year over year, despite the extremely wide and increasing selection of children’s channels available.

While local networks’ children’s channels in Western Europe tend to have the upper hand, US-based brands such as Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network take the lead or rank close behind them in many other countries. In Poland, for instance, Disney Channel led the market share with 6.3% (January – June 2011).

The report, however, noted that traditional children’s blocks still dominates viewing share in certain markets such as Russia and Hong Kong. The report attributes this to slower technical implantation of dedicated children’s channels in some areas.

Kids’ primetime
Although dictated by school hours, key time slots for children’s TV vary considerably from country to country and are strongly affected by cultural differences. In markets such as China, the Netherlands and Spain, there is a clear secondary viewing peak in the middle of the day as children tend to go home for lunch. In the U.S., meanwhile, viewing remains strong and steady throughout the day, rising from 3pm to the evening peak at around 8pm.

Viewing habits are different when children don’t have to go to school. The TV comes on a little later, but morning and in some cases afternoon viewing is much stronger.

Family viewing
Children, naturally influenced by their parents’ viewing habits, most of the time have preferences for sports, talent shows, variety shows and scripted series. In fact, family shows are the best performing programmes with children.

While music and talent shows dominate the top rankings in most countries, game shows are likewise especially appreciated by children. Sporting events are also preferred. In Canada, four out of the ten best performing shows with children during the first half of 2011 were sport events. In the United States, the NFL Super Bowl attracted the biggest children’s audience with more than 9.6 million children viewers—one quarter of the 2 – 11 population. In Spain, kids are watching both international and local football competitions with devotion.

Animation faces growing challenge
Live-action series and factual and entertainment formats are increasingly challenging the dominance of animation, when it comes to kids’ content. The report says that animated series dominated the top ranking youth programmes on a panel of 13 territories: Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the UK, and the United States. On the other hand, live-action represented almost a quarter of the best-performing shows in the same countries, peaking at 40% in the United States.

Live-action series seem to mostly be the prerogative of youth channels, especially Disney and Nickelodeon, except in northwest Europe where local productions are thriving.

Even for kids, content is still king.
Content remains the most important driver of success— even for kids. And animation dominates the top rankings in most territories worldwide as cartoon representations are naturally less culturally specific than “real people” and voices can be dubbed in local languages and even accents without disturbing the viewing experience. Because of this, animation has always been able to travel across borders as a finished product in a way that other types of programming can only dream of.

Meanwhile, although the “universal” finished titles can find success around the world, narrative codes are simultaneously being shared between different styles of animation, according to the report. Japanese manga, for instance, has exerted a strong influence on European and American productions. Finished manga formats, in fact, have managed to air in multiple territories and climb the rankings of top-performing shows. Pokémon, after 14 seasons, still imposes itself in top place in Taiwan and South Korea and continues to achieve great results for its channels in Europe and beyond. In France, Beyblade was the top performing children’s programme, while in Hong Kong the format gathered a market share of 70.5%. Bakugan, on the other hand, grew TV3’s viewing share sevenfold among children aged 4 – 9 in Russia.

No signs of fading
Kids’ love for the small screen shows no signs of fading. While this continues to offer great opportunities for broadcasters, challenges also remain.

Therefore to become successful in this market, broadcasters and producers should increase their efforts in providing quality content, and address kids’ new expectations and habits of content consumption by utilising the latest technologies to offer more interactivity and platforms as well as strengthen brand awareness in their young, yet powerful, audience.