Tech Tidbits from the Digital Kids Conference

The 2017 Digital Kids Conference, held at Current at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 20, 2017, focused on the intersection of technology and kids’ media, entertainment, and marketing.

A few takeaways of potential interest to the licensing community:

• By a margin of more than two to one, the members of Generation Z (ages 8-15) rely on streaming media rather than traditional television for their entertainment consumption, according to research firm Kidsay. In addition, 67% of this age group report that they follow recommendations of YouTube influencers when making a purchase, versus 7% who follow friends’ suggestions.
• UNICEF Kid Power is a wearable device that spurs American children to become fit by allowing them to earn points redeemable for food packets delivered to starving children. Having an important and engaging mission has resulted in 55% of users being more active on an average day and spending 44% more days achieving their fitness goals than kids using wearable devices without the charitable purpose. Not only that, but 5.2 million food packets have been delivered, saving the lives of 30,000 severely malnourished kids around the world.
• More than half (51%) of U.S. consumers are aware of GoldieBlox, the STEM-based building sets for girls launched in 2012. The company built its following through storytelling, first through PR, by conveying the founder’s story to adults, and then through apps and animation for an audience of girls, describing how fun engineering can be. “The challenge is, you don’t write the story, you evolve with it,” says Kenny Davis, chief marketing officer.

To read the full coverage, which expands on these trends and describes other highlights from the conference, click here. The piece includes data and comments from Dan Ferguson of Groove Jones, Rajesh Anandan of UNICEF Ventures, Youngna Park of Tinybop, Davis of GoldieBlox, and Terence Burke of KidSay.

For RaugustReports’ coverage of key licensing trends spotted at Toy Fair, which took place in New York at the same time as the Digital Kids Conference, click here.