Giraffe insights’ study found that Covid-19 has accelerated On Demand viewing across Europe.
Leading specialist kids, youth and family research agency, Giraffe Insights has conducted a ground-breaking international study into family viewing, operating across nine European markets and surveying over 3,500 families.
The study found that Covid-19 has been significant in accelerating existing trends towards digitalisation. Over half of all kids, across all nine markets, now regularly access video content online (56%) and via on-demand services (56%). Kids in major European markets including the UK, Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic are now more likely to watch a video on demand or online, than on live TV.
The UK is the closest to a totally digital future with two thirds of kids watching video content via on demand services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney + and over half also watching content through online platforms such as YouTube. This contrasted with the fact that less than half of UK kids said they had watched content live on the TV channel in the week prior to this research being conducted.
In markets such as the Czech Republic, online viewing is booming, with almost two thirds of kids viewing online video content. Even in more traditionally linear dominant markets such as Poland and Italy, online videos now make up a significant proportion of their weekly content intake.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for non-digital channels with TV still being king for inspiration. TV adverts and shows are still kids’ top source of inspiration across Europe for Christmas gifts (48%), surpassing YouTube ads/videos (37%), shops (35%), friends (29%) and online searches (24%).
Maxine Fox, managing director at Giraffe Insights, commented: “This exciting piece of research comes at a time where brands need to understand and respond to the changing environment and the impact this is having on consumer behaviour across the globe. Whilst this study highlights the acceleration in kids digital viewing across Europe, it also acts to remind us that not everything is changing, with live TV still king for inspiration. We have been tracking behaviours among kids and parents throughout this period to be able to provide our clients with strategic insights not currently available anywhere else.”