Kids advertising spending worldwide 2012-2021, by format

In 2018, kids advertising spending amounted to 4.2 billion U.S. dollars worldwide. Expenditure is forecast to reach 4.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2021, out of which an estimated 1.7 billion is projected to stem from digital advertising formats.

Advertising to children

With the widespread adoption of television, advertising to children has become commonplace around the world. Children represent a huge market to advertisers, and while many youngsters have no money to spend themselves, their preferences largely influence their parents’ shopping decisions. In a 2019 survey, 72 percent of parents to kids aged three to 13 from Mexico stated that advertising was the main reason their child picked a specific brand or product, indicating the immense impact of commercial appeals to children.

Kids advertising is moving online – but at what cost?

Ad spend targeted towards children continues to grow, and while traditional advertising still accounts for the lion’s share of expenditure, there has been a noticeable trend towards digital in recent years. This relocation reflects the changing consumer behavior of kids who are gradually shifting their screen time from TVs to digital devices. However, without parental supervision, children are at risk of being exposed to inappropriate digital media and advertising content such as alcohol promotion. This particular problem has been visible in the television industry for years, and in 2018, over 300 million non-compliant alcohol advertising impressions were registered on U.S. cable TV programs alone. As young audiences are more impressionable and cannot always identify ads as such, the rise of advertising platforms calls for stricter regulations in terms of the language and images used. Just as in traditional media formats, digital advertising to children should be legal, decent, and truthful, while also ensuring data protection and privacy relating to children’s personal information.