PARIS: Children's TV consumption in Europe during the first half of 2013 was an average 2 hours and 14 minutes daily, according to new data from Eurodata TV Worldwide.
The figures, which appear in the first volume of the 2013 Kids TV Report, are a two minute drop on 2012 but overall represent an increase of five minutes a day over the past five years.
"The children's market, like the TV market in general, is evolving and adapting to changes in behaviour and new viewing habits," said Johanna Karsenty, Kids' Research Manager at Eurodata TV Worldwide.
"Thanks to new platforms, children have never watched as much TV," she added.
This was especially true of children in Italy and Germany, which were the only countries to have increased their TV viewing in comparison to 2012. Italian children added another seven minutes to their daily viewing time to reach a total of 2 hours and 49 minutes.
German children, in contrast, watched the least TV but they increased their consumption by two minutes to reach a daily average of 1 hour 33 minutes.
Animation continued to be popular, representing more than 60% of the titles appearing in the national top 20 rankings. Children in France, Italy and Spain were fans of US shows such as SpongeBob Squarepants, The Penguins of Madagascar and Dora The Explorer.
Live action shows were also widely viewed, with Violetta, a telenovela from Disney, performing well in both Italy and Spain. And non-fiction programming was particularly popular in the UK, where such shows took 12 of the top 20 rankings.
Eurodata also noted that Amazon, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix and Samsung all now offered children's programs as they sought to reach the consumers of tomorrow.
It suggested that this development opened up new opportunities "as new and traditional media seek allies to offer their programming across different screens and platforms".
The figures, which appear in the first volume of the 2013 Kids TV Report, are a two minute drop on 2012 but overall represent an increase of five minutes a day over the past five years.
"The children's market, like the TV market in general, is evolving and adapting to changes in behaviour and new viewing habits," said Johanna Karsenty, Kids' Research Manager at Eurodata TV Worldwide.
"Thanks to new platforms, children have never watched as much TV," she added.
This was especially true of children in Italy and Germany, which were the only countries to have increased their TV viewing in comparison to 2012. Italian children added another seven minutes to their daily viewing time to reach a total of 2 hours and 49 minutes.
German children, in contrast, watched the least TV but they increased their consumption by two minutes to reach a daily average of 1 hour 33 minutes.
Animation continued to be popular, representing more than 60% of the titles appearing in the national top 20 rankings. Children in France, Italy and Spain were fans of US shows such as SpongeBob Squarepants, The Penguins of Madagascar and Dora The Explorer.
Live action shows were also widely viewed, with Violetta, a telenovela from Disney, performing well in both Italy and Spain. And non-fiction programming was particularly popular in the UK, where such shows took 12 of the top 20 rankings.
Eurodata also noted that Amazon, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix and Samsung all now offered children's programs as they sought to reach the consumers of tomorrow.
It suggested that this development opened up new opportunities "as new and traditional media seek allies to offer their programming across different screens and platforms".
Data sourced from Médiamétrie; additional content by Warc staff
