Nielsen’s annual Children’s Book Summit took place on Oct 27th in Manhattan’s Financial District. With an overflow crowd in attendance, the daylong conference delivered information that went well beyond Nielsen’s own data and analytics. The day was filled with stats and information from a range of speakers on what kids are reading, what devices they’re using, and—to the surprise of many attendees— the role of YouTube in kids’ lives.
DubIt’s David Kleeman explained that today’s children use YouTube as Google because when they’re curious about something, they don’t want text: they want images, sound, and/or video. Kleeman went on to explain that YouTube is one of the most influential factors on children, second only to their friends. Later in the program, Nadine Zylstra, Head of Family Learning and Entertainment for YouTube Originals said, “Non-fiction is growing on YouTube because parents and kids watch together.” When some kids (who ranged from 2nd to 4th graders) showed up to tell attendees what technology they like and use, three out of the four children were enthusiastic YouTube watchers. Dog videos (pugs and Pomeranians, to be specific) were favorites among two of the children and another said he loved watching videos because “We can learn anything, and it’s fun.” As Zylstra explained, YouTube is popular with kids because it’s “so collaborative, so active, so engaging.”
Another common thread for the day was the tricky path of finding success in media directed at children that must also appeal to an older age group: parents. Betsy Loredo of Sesame Workshop explained “We know that kids learn best when their parents are in the room, but we must include content for parents. Otherwise it doesn’t get shared….We don’t exist if parents don’t share.” CJ Kettler, EVP of Consumer Brands and Strategy at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, explained the difficulty of having profitable children’s technology products: “The content is always for the kids, but you need that moment when the device is in the parents’ hands. That’s the selling moment.” Nielsen Summit Chair Kristen McLean’s morning data presentation also highlighted the importance of parents and their kids. In mentioning that the juvenile non-fiction category of Holidays and Celebrations is steadily growing, she explained that it is it’s an area where parents and family members are willing to invest money in high quality books to share. Additionally, she said that board books have been “exploding” in the last three years because parents see them as very affordable.
Toward the end of the day, attendees were presented with the data on an even trickier age group to understand: the millennial parent. (For this research, a millennial is considered someone aged 18-34.) While this presentation by Jordan Rost didn’t center specifically around books, it provided insight into what they value. Some takeaways were that millennials themselves are 24% of a global population. Also, they have less money, but they’re willing to spend more money on something if it’s high-quality and will last a long time. They want to be associated with “doing the right thing” and therefore be associated with companies with sustainable missions. Perhaps one of the most important things that Rost shared about millennials is that “building communities and connections is what energizes” them.
Though each presentation and panel was different, each came back to the idea that there is a lot of high quality content out there for children – and their parents – and there’s a lot more of it to come. As ever, our challenge in the book industry is finding ways to get our content into their hands, on their smartphone screen, or even in a YouTube video.
