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For Kids, TV Ads Are Just The Beginning

As cable outlets such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network gained traction, advertisers have had the opportunity to appear in kid-focused programming during more hours of the day and more days of the week. But that is no longer enough. TV is still a "first-priority media, but we can't just rely on TV like we could in years past," says Ted Ellet, group media director at DraftFCB. Not all children are watching TV, and those that are watching sometimes replace their TV viewership with online video consumption, he says.

About 48% of consumers between the ages of 8 and 12 spend two hours online every day, according to eMarketer, while 24% of those between 13 and 17 spend more than 15 hours online each week. Big Media is catching up with them on the smaller screen. Disney.com, Viacom's Nick.com and Time Warner's CartoonNetwork.com were the three most visited sites among kids 2 to 11 in the U.S. in 2008, per ComScore.

"If I were in the business of spending real dollars, I wouldn't be so naive as to say, 'OK, we'll do Nickelodeon, and that'll do it,' says Tom Donohue, mass communications professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. "I'd also be on MySpace, YouTube. The Internet is becoming a pre-adolescent phenomenon." TV still works, say the experts, but emerging venues are useful to reach smaller groups in more immediate ways.

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