Podcast and children's brands

Podcast and children's brand: a love affair lasting more than 3 years?

And of course, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet have all played a key role in facilitating distance learning.But one medium is still very much in vogue today, unlike video conferencing, you guessed it: the podcast.Aside from covid, what else facilitated the rise of the children's podcast? Why is it still so popular today? Can brands benefit from it? These are the crucial questions we're going to be answering today.Fasten your seatbelts, especially if you're a children's brand.

Podcast for kids: an ignored medium?

Little data on the phenomenon

While researching for this article, I realized that historically, data on audiences under the age of 12 has not been collected, and with good reason, since such data is governed by laws and rules designed to protect this audience. In the U.S., for example, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, or COPPA, prohibits access to this information, which I believe explains why the "children's" audience in the podcast sector is often overlooked or even completely ignored by brands.

A few figures that seem to indicate a trend

However, I can safely say that the days when only books were used as educational tools for children seem to be over, as shown by the statistics from the Kids' Podcast Listenership study, which found that 52% of parents surveyed said their children (aged 2 to 12) listened to podcasts.The Ipsos 2020 study confirms this trend, establishing that one child in four listens to podcasts. This represents an increase of 20% in six months.

source: Ipsos

Finally, the Statista study, which dates back to 2023, fully validates this trend, with 1 in 5 children aged 6 to 8 indicating that they listen to podcasts.

source: Statista

Why are children's podcasts so popular?

It's true, after all, that parents can rely on children's TV shows, children's books, Disney...So why Podcast? To put it simply, this audio medium is :

• Ideal for boosting the imagination,
• Easy to consume,
• Easy to integrate into a routine with something else (on the way to school).

But as I did my research, I realized that it goes much further than that.

Avoid screens at all costs

Covid has increased screen time for adults and children alike, and I don't think I'm wrong when I say that seeing children with their eyes glued to the screen is disturbing:

• Parents,
• Babysitters,
• Early childhood professionals.

The advantage here is that podcasting is not a "one-time solution", but that once the covid has passed, audio content remains a good alternative.

A medium that inspires confidence

Parents are always in doubt about the type of content they can give their children access to, and rightly so! Audio content provides a new level of satisfaction, with 75% of parents giving a 5-star rating to the podcasts their children listen to.

source: Kid listen

Doing an activity with your children

Few children's activities allow parents to do them together: watching Peppa Pig is boring, running around in tiny children's games hurts your back and eating sweets hurts your teeth. The podcast works in the opposite way to these activities, as it allows you to listen to a story with your child (and fall back into childhood at the same time). 63% of parents listen to the podcast with their children while it's on air, rather than doing another activity.

Podcasts for kids offer a higher level of attention

In today's marketing world, attention is the sinews of war, and that's what we're fighting for:

• Social networks like TikTok vs. Instagram
• Streaming platforms like Netflix vs. Amazon Prime

Simply put, without that attention, there's no audience, and without an audience, there's no sale... Which is why every detail counts... When it comes to podcasts, 78% of kids say they just listen to podcasts (with nothing to do on the side). This statistic may seem insignificant to some, but it's huge: the same audience claims to be watching TV and on their mobile at the same time (the famous multiscreen)...

Podcast for kids: an underestimated benefit for brands?

Few children's brands seem to have made the leap into the podcast medium, yet statistics show that there is a place for them in this fast-growing market.

A medium that builds listener loyalty

Unlike a book, which disappears into a cupboard once read, a podcast is there to stay in our little ones' ears. 91% of children surveyed in the Kids Listen study say they listen to podcasts at least once a week.

source: Kid listen

A medium that facilitates word-of-mouth

In marketing, word-of-mouth is the most powerful vector, but also the hardest to master, and here again the podcast medium comes into its own: 53% of children's podcasts are discovered through the recommendation of a friend.

Parents "okay" with advertising

Few media can claim to have an audience "ok" with advertising. Here, 62% of parent listeners say they don't like advertising, but that it's "ok" if it gives them free access to the podcast's content.

And it goes further... Parents value audio content for their children so much that 38% would pay between $0 and $2 to access an ad-free podcast, and 16% would pay between $2 and $5 for the same service.

But it doesn't stop there... It seems that audio content for children could develop via subscription, as the Morning Consult study shows, with 32% of parents considering a podcast subscription for their children.

source: Morning Consult

Avner UZAN