14 DAY TRIAL // Online research firm Nielsen has released a new study looking at how kids are using the Internet and the size of the demographic. It has found that more children aged 2 to 11 are online than ever before, 16 million having used the web in May 2009, with a fairly even distribution among boys and girls, making up 9.5% of the active Internet audience in the U.S.
The overall number of children online has risen by 18 percent since 2004, contrary to this segment of the population's overall growth, as the number of kids under 14 is said to decline by 1 percent from 2004 to 2010. The time spent online saw an even bigger increase, of 63 percent, since May 2004, when they spent seven hours a week, to today's eleven hours. This growth is almost double that of the overall Internet population, which saw a 36 percent increase in time spent online in the last five years. There were slight gender differences, as boys spent more time online, 7 percent more, but girls had 9 percent more page views.
Online video viewing is also becoming increasingly popular among children, with 64 percent of those between 2 and 11 years old using the Internet having viewed an online video in May – 5.2 million of the boys and 5.1 million of the girls. However, boys watched more videos and spent more time doing it, with 61 percent of the total number of videos and 57 percent of the time spent watching them.
Not surprisingly, brands aimed at children were particularly popular with the age group with 48 percent of the Pokemon online videos streamed watched by 2 to 11-year-old boys while 38 percent of the Barbie videos were viewed by the girls. The increase in numbers would indicate that parents are more comfortable with their kids viewing online content, a sign that the companies are doing a good job filtering inappropriate content and generally protecting the younger audience.