Toy wonders: 75% of kids ask their parents to buy something after seeing it in an ad on YouTube

A new report details YouTube’s wide-reaching impact in the world of children’s retail. According to data published by Precise TV, 75% of YouTube viewers between the ages of two and 12 have asked for a product after seeing an ad for it while watching alongside their parents.

That figure comes from the Precise Advertiser Report: Kids, a recurring survey of young consumers conducted by the London-based agency. This time out, Precise TV’s cohort of 2,000 respondents (and their parents) expressed a broad range of preferences that varied depending on factors like age, platform, and device.

Some preferences are fairly universal: YouTube is the most popular platform for kids, with Shorts usage increasing 32% year-over-year among Precise TV’s respondents. YouTube’s viewership share was more than twice as large as broadcast TV’s, underscoring a paradigm shift that made YouTube the most prominent content destination in living rooms.

More than half of the surveyed parents said they have watched YouTube alongside their kids, and that dynamic has turned the platform into a potent marketing vehicle. YouTube’s effect on recall is up 20% year-over-year, and 38% of parents said the most recent item they purchased for their child was a product they saw an ad for on YouTube.

Kids tend to prefer specific genres when watching YouTube, and those categories are areas where marketing efforts are particularly effective. Almost half of the surveyed kids play games on a second screen while watching TV, and YouTube channels like LankyBox 

and GamingWithJen (pictured above) ranked highly among both boys and girls.

The popularity of gaming content explains why so many creators have inked deals that integrate their likenesses into popular gaming worlds. MrBeast even showed up in Stumble Guys, the game that ranked as the #1 video game content choice for boys. But the PARK report also shows that traditional toymakers can benefit from influencer marketing partnerships, since channels like CoComelon and Ryan’s World — which have both showed up in the toy aisle — remain popular among both toddlers and primary schoolers.

Brands like Moose Toys will continue to use pacts with creators like MrBeast to harness the marketing power of YouTube (and Shorts in particular). The long-established trustworthiness of influencer recommendations is proving to be quite potent, even among YouTube’s youngest viewers. For more details about the habits of that audience segment, check out Precise TV’s report.