According to an annual study led by leading kids digital media company, TotallyAwesome, more than eight in 10 children in the Philippines would choose to have access to the Internet over TV.
The fourth iteration of the “Philippines Kids’ Digital Insights” analyses kids digital behavior, online media consumption, device usage, content as well as brand preferences.
More than one kid out of two own a smartphone
This trend has been rising steadily over the years, revealing children prefer mobile devices smartphones (81%), followed by tablets (56%), and TV (54%). TotallyAwesome discovered one of the reason for this is that over 55% of children own a smartphone, 47% own a tablet, while only 17% own a TV. With the high mobile penetration, it is not surprising that digital is the main source of information: 83% of children surveyed said they find out about new toys launches from the internet; only 48% said they get the same information from television.
Online ads spur purchases
Moreover, the study acknowledges the ever-increasing impact of online advertising as over seven in 10 parents admitted they had bought products for their kids, who had seen it on online ads.
TotallyAwesome Chief Executive Officer, Quan Nguyen said: “We have seen children in The Philippines being very vocal and fanatical about content that they see online. With a high smartphone penetration, it only stands to reason they are more impressionable to online kid influencers. Brands marketing to kids must drop bait where the fish are instead of holding on to outdated strategies.”.
89% of kids in The Philippines have spending power
On top of being heavily invested into digital and mobile, kids have growing spending power: almost 9 in 10 kids receive pocket money and about one third of them receive pocket money every day. The study also learned Filipino children have a greater say in what they buy as their spending power increases, with many influencing their parents in the buying decisions. While 79% of the children still ask their parents to buy them products, almost 20% of them will buy what they saw online with their own money. Parents also disclosed their kids decide and have influence on the type of snacks (80%) or toys (81%) they buy, where to go when they eat out (78%), as well as the movies they watch (67%).
According to the poll, snacks (69%), drinks (46%), eating out (43%)and toys (31%) are the most popular items children spend their own money on.
“The study has revealed the power children have over the things they want. They get their way whether they are direct purchasers with their own cash or through their parents with pester power. Marketers may need to recognise and acknowledge the tremendous influence of Generation Alpha and GenX,” added Nguyen.
To learn more about Filipino kids’ digital behaviour and media habits, pocket money and spendings, pester power and brand awareness, get in touch with our TotallyAwesome team at info@totallyawesome.tv.
