lLetters to Santa used to be filled with ideas from the Argos catalog or adverts on children’s television, but for today’s children, brought up on ‘swipe and stream’, YouTube is their shop window, which is why some ask for a plastic toilet this Christmas.
The stakes are high for the toy trade at this time of year, with consumers spending around £900 million on dolls, games and action figures, equivalent to a quarter of annual sales.
Without a big last-minute rush, trading could end up lower this year. So far spending is about 5% lower than in 2023, according to data company Circana.
Whereas once a single spot on a Saturday morning could translate into a huge increase in sales, today it’s harder to reach kids en masse.
A traditional broadcast television campaign struggles to reach more than 30% of the target children’s audience. Meanwhile, more than 80% of children aged four to nine access YouTube regularly and more than 70% play games, according to research firm Childwise.
“Those land shows used to be huge,” says Melissa Symonds, managing director of UK Toys at Circana. After placing an ad there, “you would get immediate sales.”
“Now everything is streaming and for toys, which reduces the amount of ads in between,” he adds. “YouTube is an everyday part of children’s lives. “They can’t imagine not having it.”
The online video-sharing platform is increasingly seen as an alternative to traditional children’s television, although it’s probably more accurate to say that the two are merging: many of kids’ favorite shows are in some form on YouTube, while that for young viewers, many of them on tablets: everything is just “video.”
As a result, “video” is taking over the living room television. “Gen Z and Alpha are used to swiping and streaming, not changing TV channels,” says Ian Macrae, director of market intelligence at Ofcom, in his annual study of the country’s media habits.
They spend more than three hours a day watching videos, but only 20 minutes on live television, Macrae says, so “it’s no surprise that the traditional TV is quickly becoming the device of choice for watching YouTube.” In an average week in 2023, 68% of children aged four to 15 watched YouTube at home, according to Ofcom. Of these young people, 43% watched it on television.
Streaming has forced toy makers to think differently. Children’s shows have long featured characters who could become toys, but it’s now more common for merchandising to be part of the plan from the beginning. They’re also getting into bed with popular YouTube creators like MrBeast and Skibidi Toilet (a sci-fi series about animated heads that live in toilets) to sell toys (or toilets).
When Spin Master, the company behind children’s TV and toy giant Paw Patrol, launched Unicorn Academy, based on the books by Julie Sykes, in 2023 it started with a movie and a Netflix series, and toy unicorns followed.
At the time, Spin Master described the “magic series” as the “tip of the iceberg,” slipping into business jargon to describe its plan for a “complete franchise ecosystem, which will delve deeper into the world of unicorns through auxiliary content, toy games. and consumer products for hobbyists.”
after newsletter promotion
“We’re all very used to consuming content, whether it’s movies, television, TikTok videos or Instagram reels,” says Rachael Simpson-Jones, editor of toy world magazine. “That’s why many successful toy ranges are accompanied by content with complete character-based stories. It’s something kids almost expect.”
YouTube, which like Google is part of the technology company Alphabet, is on a list of growing influence over children’s tastes that also includes TikTok, Netflix and influencers, says Paul Reader, chairman of the committee. selection that closely compiles the list of the Toy Retailers Association. noticed dream toys list every Christmas.
While big toy brands like Lego and LOL Surprise! The dolls have YouTube channels (the YouTube Kids app prohibits non-kid-friendly ads) that stream animations and movies promoting their toys, competing with a spate of “brain rot,” the term used to describe silly or bizarre videos. that children love. .
Skibidi Toilet, with 45 million subscribers on YouTube, is in this field. It was the sixth most popular brand this summer among young people aged seven to 17, and memes and new videos have gone viral in recent months. According to Childwise, there was only more talk about the Euro 2024 men’s championship, Roblox, Fortnite, TikTok and YouTube.
The spin-off toys, including a £50 spring-loaded “mystery” toilet with a pop-up head inside, were one of the “most popular” releases of the year. “Toilet humor has always worked well in toys,” says Symonds, and every few years puerile brands like Skibidi Toilet appear.
The speed of online trends means the toy industry has had to become more agile (think fast fashion for toys) and it can be difficult for retailers to know what will sell quickly.
“When we go back to the nostalgic days of products advertised on television, there was a way to measure how popular or how much demand they created they could be,” Reader says. “Nowadays it is very, very difficult. Children’s attitudes change a lot. One moment they’re in Fortnite, then in Skibidi Toilet, and then we’re back in Minecraft. It’s hard to keep up.”