THE PHILIPPINES, MARCH 2012: Filipino children are beginning to access the Internet through mobile more according to Benjamin Grubbs, executive director of Interactive, Turner Broadcasting Asia Pacific, at the Digital Engagement Forum held March 2, 2012.
According to Cartoon Network’s New Generations 2009 research, the kids’ market in the Philippines is seeing a greater share of digital devices since nearly every home has a mobile phone. Gaming and music devices are also common, which is one third to half of kids having such devices in their homes.
According to the research, since over half of the homes with kids have computers, home Internet usage is the second biggest activity at home next to watching television.
The top five mobile devices that were used to access Cartoon Network’s site include iPad, Samsung Galaxy, iPod Touch, iPhone, and Asus Eee pad Transformer.
"These devices take up 12% of the annual average household spend in this market. A series investment for digital content," said Grubbs.
With the immediate real-time response and reach of the Internet, Grubbs believes that the use of digital media may be better than sitting in a focus group discussion with a limited number of people.
Kids under 14-years old in the Philippines are 35% of the overall population. It’s the highest population penetration in the Asia Pacific region, fourth after India, China, and Pakistan. Cartoon Network has one million fans across several fan pages for Ben 10 fans in Philippines. 20% of the 1.8 million fans are Filipino.
Of the four million users visited Cartoon Network’s website in 2011, 1.2 million are registered users from the Philippines.
On children’s spending power
To further determine the kid’s overall market share, Cartoon Network also studied the spending habits of children ages 7-14 years old. The company interviewed 1,000 parents and 1,000 kids in key cities in the Philippines including Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao.
According to the research, 9 out of 10 parents give their kids money to spend, which is worth P200 a week on average.
Create, social play, and edu-tain
Grubbs shared that the three themes that the company has picked up from launching products in the kids’ market are create, social play, and edu-tain (education and entertainment).
"We are finding that compelling content is incredibly important, but it’s not just what we make and send out, but it’s also about a platform we create and how kids themselves become the creators," explains Grubbs on the value of creative content.
The rise of social play is rooted from the increased social interaction through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. "We also see a rise in social play. For a long time, kids could play games online that were solitary in nature. The rise of social media brings social interactions. It doesn’t stop at a site like Facebook," explains Grubbs.
Furthermore, Grubbs also pointed out that the blend of entertainment and education has a potential to reach a wider audience, both young and old.
