YouTube tops the list as favourite digital brand among children

The report published today (4 March) by Childwise, an independent market research company, highlights that among 2194 children aged between 5 and 16 YouTube was the most visited site over a 7 day time period.

Three quarters (75%) of the group used YouTube most frequently, up from 66% in 2014.

YouTube was also voted ‘favourite website’ by 23% of those surveyed and favourite app by 9%. The brand topped the list ahead of Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Instagram and Minecraft.

Children aged from 5-16 are more likely to access YouTube through its app. This is part of a wider trend, with the report also finding that 81% of the children are more likely to access digital brands through apps opposed to websites.

Matthew Nevard, Childwise researcher, told Marketing Week: “Apps can often be the first point of engagement with brands for children and young people. The dominance of tablets among younger age groups mean this generation are used to having fully functioning apps which help them complete everyday tasks.”

The surveyed group voted video and blogger sites as overall favourite websites, over social networking, search/information and social gaming sites.

There is a slight difference among age groups, however, as 5-10 year old boys and girls prefer social gaming over video/vloggers, social networking and online search/information, while 11-16 year-olds put video and vloggers at the top of their list.

The change in Facebook

Due to the high volume of apps available, no more than one in ten children chose a single app as a favourite. YouTube, Snapchat and Facebook share the top spot with 9% voting the digital brands as a favourite.

However, out of the top apps chosen, YouTube has been the only app to grow in popularity. The amount of children voting Facebook as a favourite has dropped from 17% to 9% over the past year, and the amount voting Instagram has dropped from 12% to 8%. YouTube, in comparison, has grown from 8% to 9%.

YouTube launched a children’s app last week. The brand follows a trend of digital providers creating age specific versions of their product. Vine, Netflix and Amazon have all now created child-friendly versions of their apps.