Ad engagement improves when kids and parents watch together

Over 90% of parents think brands that advertise alongside children’s and family content are more trustworthy than brands that advertise in other environments. That was the headline from a new study by Future Today, a provider of free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels such as HappyKids and iFood.tv.

The trend of families watching streaming TV together was strengthened by the pandemic and persists today, the study said. Sixty-two percent of families report watching TV together every day with 60% saying that CTV is the primary source of content (4% said cable).

Based on Future Today’s HappyKids channel, 96% of parents say they engage with their children about the ads on the channel, while over 90% of children discuss the ads after they have appeared.

Why we care. On the one hand, of course Future Today loves survey results that show engagement with ads on its FAST channels. But on the other hand, that kind of engagement, with kids bringing parents’ attention back to ads after they’ve been shown, must be valuable to the brands involved.

Let’s be honest, it’s a result that’s not going to be relevant to every brand. Products exclusively aimed at adults, like cars and many healthcare products, are not going to find a natural home on a children’s channel. Brands that do fit that environment might find these results interesting.

Brands that do advertise on HappyKids. The verticals that take up ad space on a channel of this kind are fairly predictable:

• Retail. Parents who watch these ads were evenly divided between those that prefer to shop online and those that prefer to shop in-person.
• Food and restaurants. Over a third of those surveyed eat out 1-2 times per week; 26% eat out 2-4 times per week.
• Travel. Especially theme parks (over 60% have theme park travel plans on their calendars).

Over 300 U.S. families were in the survey sample.