Children’s Media Habits: An In-Depth Analysis

What are the favourite media contents and devices of toddlers, children and tweens?

Global trends show that youth programming is one of the categories of content most sought-after by consumers. Indeed, major online players, such as Netflix and YouTube, are betting big on this genre.

Canada is no exception to this trend. Along with fiction and lifestyle/human interest, it’s the children’s and youth genre that experienced the biggest increase in production volume in the last ten years in Canada, according to the Profile 2017. While the production volume in this category actually decreased in 2016-2017, it has risen from CAD 324$ million in 2007-2008 to 521$ million in 2016-2017.

To help you take advantage of this global demand for youth programming, we put together three articles that takes an in-depth look at the media habits of 3-12 year olds.

Media Usages of 3–5 Year-olds: Child Users, Parent Companions

At this age, the media usages of children are really a reflection of how their parents use them. Parents have the final say on what is watched, which devices are used and how much time their kids spend consuming media.

This article presents five key media habits of toddlers, as well as a case study focusing on the Canadian children's animation television series Toopy and Binoo.

Media Usages of 5–8 Year-olds: Children Take Control of Their Autonomy

At this age, children start to assert their preferences in terms of media activities and contents. Between the age of 5 and 8, many of them actually receive their first mobile media device: a tablet.

This article presents six key media habits of children, as well as a case study focusing on Minecraft, the second most widely sold game in history.

Media Usages of 9–12 Year-olds: The Age of Digital Independence

Tweens are almost fully independent when it comes to their media usages and entertainment choices. Many of them have a mobile phone and are present on social networks.

This article presents three key media habits of 9-12 year olds, as well as a case study focusing on Jenny, a drama series that uses social media, influencers and hashtags to engage Canadian tweens.


Industry & Market Trends | Veille stratégique
The Industry and Market Trends team is composed of Director Catherine Mathys, analysts Pierre Tanguay and Sabrina Dubé-Morneau, as well as editorial coordinator Laurianne Désormiers. Once a year, the team publishes a Trends Report that draws a portrait of the macro trends that are shaping today’s screen-based industries.
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