DIGITAL TWEENS:

YouTube and the Rise of Clustersharing

Research led by
Renee Weber & Terence Burke

YouTube
In less than ten years, YouTube has
emerged as a major cultural force. Over
six billion hours of video are watched each
month, with consumers uploading over 100
hours of video each minute. And its usage
is broad, with more than 1 billion
consumers visiting YouTube each month.
Among these users are an increasing
number of kids.
So many, in fact, that Google is actively
working on plans to develop kid-friendly
YouTube accounts for kids younger than
its current minimum age of 13. This is why
a YouTube strategy must be a vital part
of family-focused marketing campaigns
featuring digital content for their youth
market.
So, what is it about YouTube and kids?
Why has it emerged as the #1 digital outlet
when so many other options are available?
How many kids are actively using it? For
brands, what can marketers learn from
YouTubes popularity about how to better
engage families with tweens?

Over 6 billion hours of videos

watched monthly

Over 100 hours of video

uploaded each minute

1 billion monthly users

Minimum age to
create account

THE POPULARITY OF YOUTUBE

YouTube is #1 with tweens
Among websites, YouTube is THE tween
favorite. Most of them (93%) say they
use it, and over the past few years the
site has consistently ranked as the #1
favorite with tweens.
Furthermore, it isnt just U.S. tweens who
like it. Kids around the world do too. In
our global kid research, YouTube was
frequently cited as one of kids favorite
websites.

Favorite tween (kids 8-11) websites

0!
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0$
0%
If you are a marketer
targeting families with
tweens, your brands
need to have a
presence on YouTube
in a brand appropriate
and ethical way.
Digital Tweens: YouTube and The Rise of Clustersharing | 3

HOW TWEENS ARE USING YOUTUBE

Instead of typing search terms into
Google, Yahoo or other classic search
engines, many kids (62%) type them
directly into YouTube. While not quite
on the level of Google, YouTube far
surpasses other search engines.

Google (86%)
YouTube (62%)
Yahoo (30%)
BING (26%)
Ask (18%)
Other (4%)

TWEENS ARE USING YOUTUBE AS A SEARCH ENGINE

WHY?
ITS AUDIOVISUAL.
Kids love looking at pictures and watching videos. Most tell us they find pictures, illustrations, and videos
far more engaging than words. YouTube provides this valued audio-visual stimuli that helps alleviate the
struggles that make reading a challenging and time-consuming task for many kids.
ITS EASY TO NAVIGATE.
YouTube provides easy intuitive options to search for content, including open-ended queries, category
navigation bars and curated history. For example, kids who are into watching TV episodes on YouTube
love the fact that other episodes are featured on a sidebar. And, when looking for something fun to
see, they can scan featured videos on the homepage for most popular videos, recommended videos,
new videos, and so forth. These point-and-click options, all tailored to the child based on their previous searches, add an element of instant gratification that kids appreciate.

MARKETING
IMPLICATIONS
FOR BRANDS

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When building an interactive strategy and

ultimately your online presence for families of
tweens, consider creating YouTube content or
even a brand-centered YouTube channel.

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An effective search strategy (including links,

sponsorship, content description and tags) is
critical to driving awareness of your content. This
will make it easier for kids to find you or even
stumble upon you when theyre just looking for
something new.

WHAT TWEENS ARE

LOOKING FOR ON YOUTUBE
While kids enjoy searching for many different types of videos, they
do have some clear favorites. At the top of the list are funny videos.

39%

Funny

9%

Sports

22%

16%

Music/
Dance

(Gaming/Crafts/etc.
mostly instructional)

Other

7%

3%

TV Shows/
Movies

Crash/
Disasters

Tweens love for funny YouTube videos isnt surprising, given their general proclivity toward
humor. Just watch a bunch of kids hanging out and youll often observe them engaging in some
type of humorous or joking behaviors. Many of their favorite books (e.g., Diary of a Wimpy Kid,
Captain Underpants, Dork Diaries) and TV shows (e.g., SpongeBob, Good Luck Charlie, Jessie
and The Regular show) also have a strong element of humor.

Digital Tweens: YouTube and The Rise of Clustersharing | 5

WHATS SO FUNNY?
When asked WHAT they
find funny on YouTube,
kids talk about many
different things, but its
upbeat and often
situational humor that
leads the discussion.
Popular themes in the
types of humorous
videos they like include:

Fails: failed attempts at sports, tricks

or stunts

Accordingly, if you ask

tweens to show you
YouTube videos they
find hilarious, you will
see things like:

Mutant Giant Spider Dog: a dog in a giant

spider costume startling people

Pranks: pulling jokes on others

People/animals: especially cats and dogs
Acting silly/jokes: the telling of funny
jokes or the exchange of insults between
people

Ice Bucket Challenge Fails: a compilation of

failed attempts to complete the ALS Ice
Bucket Challenge
Donut Getting a Massage: a small dog laying
on its back having its neck massaged

WHAT ELSE BESIDES HUMOR?

While funny rules the day,
other popular YouTube
categories with tweens involve
entertainment and instructional
teaching. The type of
entertainment videos tweens
love include: music and dance
videos, TV episodes, movies,
and sports.
Instructional videos run the
gamut from how to make
clothes for your American Girl
doll to how to braid your hair
to how to do fractions.

However, as with many things

kids like, there are gender
differences.
Girls tend to be more interested
in learning about topics like
arts and crafts, fashion, and
makeup and hair.
Boys tend to be more
interested in gaming: watching
demo videos, learning how to
accomplish a specific task within
a game or gaining access to
cheat codes.

Interestingly, many kids

develop an allegiance to
specific instructional
channels such as Kahn
Academy (for user-friendly
instruction in math/
science), TutorialsByA (for
Rainbow Loom designs), or
SkyDoesMInecraft (for building
in Minecraft).

MARKETING IMPLICATIONS FOR BRANDS

0!
Humor is king.
(But dont
force it.)

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While there are many different approaches to engage

tweens, humor is kingjust dont force it. If its not authentic to your brand, or it alienates parents, your hysterical
video may do more harm than good.
Consider leveraging tweens love of creativity and selfexpression as part of your content strategy. Not only will
it increase the likelihood of engagement with your brand
because of the link to passion points they already
gravitate towards (like music and dance), but such an approach increases the likelihood of tweens actually making
a brand their own.

There is also an opportunity to tap into or leverage
YouTube personalities that have generated a significant
following. PewDiePie, SkyDoesMinecraft and stampylonghead are a few of the more popular channels with tweens.

Digital Tweens: YouTube and The Rise of Clustersharing | 7

THE RISE OF CLUSTERSHARING

YouTube provides an important social and creative outlet
for tweens, and finding cool YouTube videos to share with
others is a form of social capital. Not only can it foster
bonding with friends, sharing a cool or funny video can
help raise a kids social status. However, less than one-third
(28%) of tweens say they have shared a video online.
Instead, based on observations and interviews, tweens
most frequently share cool videos when hanging out (in
person) with their friends and family huddled around
laptops, tablets and phones. We call this phenomenon
clustersharing. While this partly reflects the fact that not
all tweens use social media, it speaks more to their desire
to physically experience videos with others to see, to feel
and to share that experience, including their thoughts and
emotions.

clustersharing:

(n.) the act of

sharing videos in
person while
hanging out with
friends and
family

Besides sharing videos, tweens are also increasingly making and posting videos on YouTube. Theoretically, tweens
should not be doing this, since it requires having a YouTube account (which are for kids 13 years+).
However, one-fourth of tweens have created online videossome with their parents approval (and in many cases,
enthusiastic support) and others by circumventing the rules they see as a limit on their fun.

VIDEOS TWEENS MAKE

GENERALLY FEATURE:

THEIR PETS
ACTING SILLY
e.g. a girls cute
pug chasing a
water bottle
around
the room
GAME
DEMONSTRATIONS
OR POINTERS
e.g. a boy showing
how to build an
object on
Minecraft

HOW TO
MAKE THINGS
e.g. a boy building
a finger scooter

MAJOR
EVENTS
e.g. a boy
documenting his
first time on
an airplane

STORY OR
PLAY
e.g. girls dressed
up and acting
out a short
skit
THEMSELVES
ACTING SILLY/
SHOWING OFF TALENT
e.g. a girl performing
a hand clapping
routine to
One Direction
music

Digital Tweens: YouTube and The Rise of Clustersharing | 9

TWEEN MOTIVATIONS FOR

CREATING AND POSTING
THEIR VIDEOS ARE TO:

Share with
their friends

Have fun

Achieve
fame

Help
other kids

Express
themselves

Some tweens are motivated to create

YouTube videos because of a desire for fame.
Nearly all of them have heard stories about someone being discovered on YouTube. They
see how some videos attract thousands, and even millions of viewers. Given the simplicity of
some of these popular videos, many kids assume that their videos could potentially garner a
lot of hits too. They too can become a Justin Bieber or a PewDiePie.

MARKETING IMPLICATIONS FOR BRANDS

0!

Sharing existing brand content may not be enough for tweens. How can your brand be
a conduit for tweens to create and share their own user-generated content? Examples
include sparking an idea or providing tools and effects to enhance the final product.

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These initiatives must be carefully constructed to ensure parental approval, compliance

with marketing to kids guidelines, as well as YouTubes age restrictions.

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With the rise of clustersharing, find ways to enhance that in-person, social experience.
Using ad content (like a group game) or finding a way to alleviate the agonizing live
wait of a 15 second pre-roll between each video presents an opportunity to enrich your
brand experience with this very engaged audience.

Sources
1 http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html
2 http://www.zdnet.com/google-considers-kids-accounts-family-friendly-youtube-and-google-7000032732/
3 KidSay Trend Tracker, June/July 2014
4 KidSay Trend Tracker, June/July 2013
5 KidSay Trend Tracker, April/May 2014
6 KidSay Year End 2013
7 KidSay Trend Tracker, Sept/Oct 2013
8 The Marketing Store Qualitative Summer 2013-2014
9 The Marketing Store Qualitative September 2013-2014
10 Global Kids Study, The Marketing Store, 2012

About The Marketing Store

As one of the largest brand activation agencies in the world, The Marketing Store delivers tangible
interactions that engage people, influence purchase and build brands. The Marketing Store focuses on
youth & family marketing, CRM/loyalty, shopper marketing, digital, direct, and consumer promotions for
clients including McDonalds, Coca-Cola, LOreal, and Nissan. The Marketing Store Worldwide is
headquartered in Chicago with offices in 12 countries across the globe and is privately held as part of The
HAVI Group. Follow @marketingstore on Twitter or visit http://www.themarketingstore.com.
About KidSay
KidSay is a full service research company whose Trend Tracker reports are used by many of the worlds
leading companies. By providing frequent quantitative updates on kids/tweens (10 reports a year, 6000+
respondents) coupled with qualitative insights, KidSays Trend Trackers have become a vital tool in understanding the rapidly changing world of kids. Plus, KidSay supports education by providing funds for scholarships and enrichment programs to schools in their network. Established in 1993, KidSay is based in the
Kansas City area with field offices in New York. http://kidsay.com
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The Marketing Store Worldwide LLC Copyright 2014

Contacts:
Chris Hess
VP, Strategic Business Partnerships
The Marketing Store
312.614.4872
chris.hess@tmsw.com
http://themarketingstore.com
@marketingstore
Bob Reynolds
KidSay
913.390.8110
bob@kidsay.com
http://kidsay.com
@kidsay
Media Inquiries:
Heather Gately
Marketing and Communications
312.614.4607
773.474.4500
heather.gately@tmsw.com
http://themarketingstore.com
@heathergately
The Marketing Store Worldwide LLC
All Rights Reserved
2014