Multi-Platform TV Viewing By Children In Europe On The Rise

The television industry news website Rapid TV News is reporting in the following article that, according to the new Kids TV Report by Médiamétrie, multi-platform TV viewing, such as a additional electronic device (e.g. tablet, smartphone) that allows a television audience to interact with the content they are consuming, by children living in Europe is on the increase, and that the time European kids' spend watching television seems to be stabilising, where, in 2012, children spent an average of two hours 16 minutes in front of a TV set, an increase of seven minutes over five years:

Multi-platform TV viewing on the increase for kids

Second screens are increasingly popular with children, and the time they spend in front of the TV seems to be stabilising.

In 2012, children spent two hours 16 minutes in front of a TV set, an increase of seven minutes over five years, according to the new Kids TV Report by Médiamétrie.

Between 2011 and 2012, daily viewing experienced a slight fall of two minutes a day across the five countries studied in the report (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, UK).

In the UK, TV viewing found a level of 2 hours 22 minutes for the four to 15 demo, while French children aged four to 14, spent two hours 15 minutes watching TV.

Like adults, Southern European children remain among the biggest TV viewers in Europe. In Italy, time spent in front of the TV last year was stable at 2 hours 42 minutes for children aged four to 14.

Despite these figures, TV market players are successfully exploiting the complementary offer between linear television and new media.

"Children remain bigger fans than ever of TV content, finding the shows they love across multiple platforms. This complementary offer continues to strengthen the link between children and their favourite characters," Johanna Karsenty, research manager at Eurodata TV Worldwide, comments.

The majority of children's channels and youth blocks now offer apps for tablets and smartphones, with Nickelodeon recently launching its version.

Another emerging trend is the adaptation of Internet content into animated series. Initially aired on Mattel's site, web series Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse was launched in September 2012 in Spain on Boing with great success.

The linear and non-linear development of brands on different accessible platforms has helped confirming the success of dedicated children's channels, Médiamétrie notes.

In Spain, the three free-to-air national children's channels Clan, Boing and Disney Channel, gathered a 41.8% share of children four to 12.

In Germany the three major children's channels, Super RTL, KiKA and Nick, still almost totally dominated the market, with a combined share of 45.3% among children three to 13.

In the French market, youth programming competition is still close between TF1 and France 3, despite stiff competition from DTT youth channel Gulli and quite a number of pay-TV kids' channels.

Regarding programming, children are always alternating their favourite shows between local and international programming, though local ones were preferred over the second quarter of 2012.

In the UK, the top performing programme was the CBBC factual show Pet School.

In Germany, local animation had a hit with the long-running Unser Sandmännchen (KiKA) coming top among children three to 13.

TF1's revamped classic title Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or (TF1) was the most watched programme in the last quarter by children aged four to 14.

Tags: europe, france, germany, united kingdom, kids, youth channels, tv viewing, nickelodeon, boing, cbbc, mattel, tablets, smartphones, web, spain, italy