Published in the front page of Business Mirror,
December 10, 2007
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/12102007/headlines02.html
Filipino kids represent a potential powerhouse consumer segment. With an estimated P37 billion in spending money annually, they represent the modern consumer who is eager to assimilate new technologies and embrace change.
The New Generations Philippines 2007 survey, conducted by research firm Synovate for Cartoon Network, revealed that kids in the 7-14 age group have a combined spending power of P37 billion annually from pocket money and gift money alone. Total pocket money received by kids was placed at P30.6 billion yearly. Money received as gifts, on the other hand, was placed at P6.3 billion.
It also showed kids in greater numbers taking to the Internet, with Internet usage doubling between 2005 and 2007, following a compelling rise in computer use within the same time period.
Interestingly, the study revealed, more kids now have access to technology right in their own rooms, with the number of those having Internet access, computers, TV sets, handheld video games, video consoles, Ipods and DVDs growing markedly between 2005 and 2007. Not surprisingly, kids are relying on these gadgets not just for entertainment, but also to complement their social lives.
Released late last month, New Generations 2007 is a quantitative study that provides insights into the minds and habits of Filipino children. It was conducted through face-to-face, in-home interviews in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao with 1,000 kids aged 7-14 and one of their parents. For the 2007 study, a booster sample of 200 moms of younger kids aged 4-6 was added.
The study showed that 94% of parents with kids in the age 7-14 group give pocket money to their children. This incidence is similar across age, gender, location and socio-economic class. Further, 92% of parents give pocket money on a daily basis.
Among the age 4-6 group, 46% of kids receive pocket money.
Average weekly pocket monthly was placed at P169. Girls (P172) got more pocket money than boys (P165). Older kids got more pocket money than younger ones, with those aged 13-14 receiving an average of P245 weekly. Kids in the 11-12 age bracket got P165, those aged 9-10 had P139 while kids aged 7-8 got an average weekly pocket money of P125.
Quite expectedly, kids in the AB socioeconomic bracket got more pocket money than their counterparts in the CD segment. Average weekly pocket money in the AB class stood at P348, compared with P186 in the C and P142 in the D segments. Kids in Manila also had more pocket money than their counterparts in the Cebu and Davao, with the Manila-based kids averaging P175 as opposed to Davao’s P151 and Cebu’s P125 weekly.
Besides pocket money from their parents, kids also receive money for gifts during birthdays and holidays. The study estimates that kids get an average of P1,800 annually in gift money. From pocket money and gift money combined, kids have an average annual income of P10,588. Combining pocket money and gift money and scaling it up to the 3.7 million kids that the study represents, kids thus have a staggering P37 billion to spend annually.
Kids could be a good market to target, given their consumption patterns. The study showed that kids frequent malls, with 99% of parents saying they visit malls with their children. Over 54% of parents of kids from the AB segments visited malls weekly, while 36% from the C and 18% from the D segments do so weekly.
Technology pretty much dictated the tempo of these kids’ daily lives, made possible by their improved access to technology. The study showed a phenomenal growth in access to digital technologies in kids’ homes between 2005 and 2007. The increase was most significant for handheld video games, which jumped 90% to 38% in 2007 from 20% in 2005, and MP3’s and Ipods, which soared 164% during the same period. Home internet access likewise rose by 53% to cover 23% of the surveyed homes, as were access to computers (up 40%), digital cameras (62%) and DVDs (56%). Ownership of mobile phones among kids also grew 62% in the last two years, with 67% of kids in the AB group claiming mobile phone ownership. In Metro Manila, 26% of kids own a mobile phone.
Internet usage among kids has nearly doubled in the last two years, with 46% having used the internet in the past 30 days this year, compared with just 27% in 2005. Among computer users, 65% of kids are Internet users, with usage increasing with age (84% of 13-14 age group; 75% of 11-12 age group; 50% of 9-10 age group; 39% of 7-8 age group; and 29% of 4-6 age group) and income class (71% of AB segment, 66% of C and 64% of D segments). Interestingly, more kids are online in Davao (74%) than Metro Manila (65%) and Cebu (60%). Favorite online activities were online gaming (91%), making or updating a homepage (76%), visiting video websites (72%) and playing multi-player games (68%).
Increased internet usage came about with greater computer use. Seventy percent reported using a computer in the past 30 days, a 45% rise from 2005. In the AB segment, computer use was placed at 91%.
Television, however, continued to eclipse everything else as the kids’ most favored leisure activity, with 96% of kids saying they watched TV yesterday as opposed to 54% who read books (excluding text books), 46% who played with toys, 20% who played sports, 18% who used the internet and 18% who played games online. //
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