• by Donna Sabino , Op-Ed Contributor, May 29, 2015

The media behaviors of next-generation audiences are being shaped at home with the proliferation of smart and internet-enabled devices and new parental attitudes and behaviors regarding online content. For example, over the last three years, ownership of tablets, web-enabled televisions and digital media receivers (such as Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, etc.) has increased significantly year over year in homes with kids under 13 years old. Coincidentally, subscription video-on-demand services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime Instant Video have also seen significant year-over-year growth in these households. 

As moms share these new viewing experiences with their children, they are also teaching their kids specific media behaviors such as how to consume content and where to look first for programming. With each passing year, moms are spending more time watching online video with their children, making it the top activity moms and kids do together online. In fact, 71% of moms agree, “Kids today prefer to go online to be entertained rather than use traditional media.” To see how this trend projects into the future, consumption habits data was analyzed by generational cohort. Interestingly, Millennial Moms more so than Gen X or Boomer Moms, favor the online co-viewing experience and are sharing this passion with their young children. 

As the presence of these devices dramatically increase in homes with young kids, moms are using the technologies to craft a viewing experience for their children. Two out of five moms report they prefer their children watch online video because they can control the content. It is important to keep in mind that content control is not only about supervising and filtering but is also about having the ability to satisfy the child’s demand for particular programming at a particular time.

Having this control allows moms to program media experiences for their children. For example, nine out of ten mothers report they have binge-viewed with their children (aged 6-12) and about half say they binge-view together often. Interestingly, even moms and their preschoolers (aged 0-5 years old) are binge-viewing together with eight in ten moms of kids under 5 years of age saying they have binge-watched with their child, satisfying those often-heard pleas of “Please, Mommy, can we watch one more?”

The connected home environment is impacting families’ out-of-home entertainment behaviors as well. While the majority of kids aged 6-12 (65%) prefer going to the theater to see movies, 74% of their moms prefer to screen movies at home for the family to watch together. The connected home gives mom immediate choice and control over the movie-viewing experience. That is, moms have the ability to conveniently share a cinematic experience with their children but not have to venture out to the theater to catch a motion picture.

Moving forward, monitoring and measuring these changing media consumption behaviors will be critical as marketers seek to connect to mom-taught, next-gen audiences.