It’s no surprise that online ads are targeting children, but the extent to which those children respond is startling. Data released from YuMe, a video ad network shows that children 14 and younger are the leaders in click-through rates on video pre-roll ads, the 15- and 30-second ads that run before a video, at 3.7%. That is nearly double the click-through rate of the next highest group, people over 35, at 1.9%. The information appeared in a Mark Walsh article on Online Media Daily.
Coincidentally (or not), just one day earlier, ABCNews.com reported on a study that shows junk food ads are littering websites popular with children. At the same time, a report commissioned by the U.S. Department for Children, Schools and Families shows that children are neither “helpless victims” nor “savvy consumers” as they are often portrayed by members of completing camps: child protectionists and marketers. The report did point out the increasing role of new media, saying rules changes should accommodate the “changing realities of a converged, digital environment, in which marketers increasingly work across multiple platforms.”
The food industry was hit with more criticism in December, this time by the chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, who said the industry needs to improve the way it markets to children to help the overall fight against obesity. Like the DCSF report, Leibowitz says new media will have to be included in guidelines for marketing to children.
So as the use of video spreads further and further across the Internet and content-rich sites directed toward children integrate pre-roll and other video ads into their user experience, marketers will be keenly aware of how closely the federal government and child advocates will be monitoring the situation. Though marketing to children is an important issue, another element of YuMe data raises the question: will these children grow into youth and adults who are also inclined to click-through pre-roll and similar video ads, or is this just a trait found in children? We won’t get that answer for many years to come.
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