What is the impact of YouTube marketing on children, and how is the platform affecting the purchasing power of parents?

According to a 2019 report by Wunderman Thompson Commerce, 25% of U.S. and U.K. children between ages 6 and 16 were susceptible to influencers. Such influencers pertained to bloggers on Instagram, content creators on Snapchat, as well as those who made videos on YouTube.

This is only second to being influenced by friends at 28%. Meanwhile, 21% of those surveyed were influenced by family members. Another study, by Insight Strategy Group, found that 77% of children trusted YouTubers over commercials.

This type of influence over purchases is bleeding into households as well. In fact, a 2019 National Retail Federation survey found that 67% of parents involved their children in the shopping process through looking at items online together. Simply looking through products together wasn’t the only way to shop online, as 56% of parents involved their kids by adding items to wish lists and shopping carts.

For those parents who liked to look into items before even thinking about a purchase, they turned to product reviews. In fact, this accounted for 54% of them, who would read and watch online reviews with their children. How items work and how they hold up can be judged, for example, by watching videos on platforms like YouTube and Facebook.

YouTube has a clear influence on families and how they find, browse, research, and purchase items and services. Being able to understand the platform and leverage it to reach business requires not only thorough market research, but also the ability to abide by the advertisement policies set out by the platform itself.

Although it is the parents who have the purchasing power, their children are nonetheless influenced by the commercials they see online. As a business, it is important to consider the implications of a child’s ability to differentiate between authentic content and paid promotions. This is especially true when they are viewing videos by their favourite influencers. A business can take care to advertise their products in a way that would also increase the rate of customer retention and company reputation.

A business can also consider the use of paid advertising through YouTube itself. When a viewer clicks on a video, they would see a message indicating that a paid advertisement would play before the start of the content, helping with comprehension. YouTube has also outlined other methods to aid children and their parents in the navigation of the platform in order to increase awareness of advertisements. 

YouTube is growing in popularity and use everyday. eMarketer predicted that by the end of 2020, the number of U.S. YouTube viewers would reach 212.6 million. By 2021 and 2022, it would be 215.9 and 218.8 respectively. In terms of which key age groups and individuals are watching video content, eMarketer found that in February 2020 alone, 24.2 million U.S. viewers were between ages zero and 11. Meanwhile, children between ages 12 and 17 pertained to 21.5%.

As for adults, those in the 18 to 24 and 25 to 35 age group reached 25.6 million and 37.1 million respectively. Older adults, between ages 35 and 44, as well as 45 and 55, were at 32.4 million and 28 million. In addition, individuals between 55 and 64 were at 23 million, and those at that age of either 65 or older reached 20.8 million.

Understanding what these statistics mean, as well as knowing which marketing techniques work best for children, their parents, and those with purchasing power, requires thorough research. It also requires customized business strategies that are dependent on a company’s industry, budget, and goals. 

Find Your Audience is ready to help clients with these key aspects of a successful business. To contact the team, call 647-479-0688 or email hi@findyouraudience.online.