Recession doesn’t stop kids from adding electronics

Households with kids ages 4-to-14 own an average of 11 of the consumer electronics devices measured in an annual survey by The NPD Group. Think economic tough times are slowing adoption? The research company reports that kids are acquiring more electronic options each year and “there’s no sign of this trend reversing anytime soon.” Meanwhile, some trends are changing, including how cell phones are used by youngsters.

According to Kids & Consumer Electronics Volume 5, the most recent report from The NPD Group, this year marks what may be the beginning of a new trend between boys’ and girls’ usage of consumer electronics (CE) devices, especially their usage of cell phones and laptop computers.  According to the report, girls are now more likely than boys to use these specific devices, while kids of all ages and genders are migrating away from using cell phones as a verbal communication device, opting to switch over to “talking” via text messaging and sending photos.
 
In the past five years, text messaging has skyrocketed among kids, and in 2009, almost half (46%) of kids using cells phones are text messaging.

Televisions and computers have remained the top two devices used by kids, however, there is a shift from standard TVs to high-def TVs, and from desktop computers to laptops. This transition is mostly a function of which devices are in the house, though increased levels of kids who have their own laptop suggests parents are buying those devices specifically for the child’s use.

Households with kids ages 4-to-14 own an average of 11 of the CE devices measured, providing kids with more than enough electronic entertainment options, and there’s no sign of this trend reversing anytime soon, as one-third of parents plan to buy a CE device for their child in the coming year. Parents are reporting that younger kids will be getting educational learning toys, while older kids can expect to get cell phones and digital cameras.

Kids’ usage of devices, such as personal digital music players (PDMP), laptops, digital cameras and cell phones is growing at impressive rates, changing the entire landscape of CE devices in the five years that NPD has been publishing reports on kids’ usage of consumer electronics products.  For example, 37% of kids use a PDMP this year, while only 6% used a PDMP in 2005.
 
“CE devices are great, but content is the key driver that will help continue the growth of the kids CE market, particularly digital content, which goes hand-in-hand with portable devices,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.  “The increase in usage of portable devices opens up more opportunity to distribute digital content. We know from our 2008 Kids & Digital Content Report that kids’ acquisition of digital content has increased across the board in the past year, particularly for digital music, TV shows, music videos and online video clips. The marketplace has room to grow high-definition TV content for kids and digital music offerings for preschool age kids,” Frazier said.

More than one-third of kids (37%) who use a portable gaming device have their own, and 30% of kids who use a PDMP have their own. Of those who have their own, nine in 10 acquired these devices brand new.  One of the most impressive numbers for personal ownership is for console video game systems – one in four kids have their very own (26%).
 
“The activity which drives two of the three most-used consumer electronics devices, computers and video game console systems, is gaming.  Playing games is an activity that kids enjoy across most of these devices, so it’s likely one of the activities driving personal ownership among kids,” said Frazier,

The NPD Group said its data was collected via an online survey to a nationally representative sample of 3,212 adults ages 23 and older, with children ages 4 to 14 in the household.  In order to qualify, respondents’ children had to use at least one consumer electronic device measured in the study. Respondents with more than one child in the specified age range were instructed to answer for a randomly selected child. Fieldwork was conducted from April 1, 2009, to April 20, 2009.

More information on the study is available at NPD.com.

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