• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, August 12, 2008

Yes, today's kids are extremely techno-savvy, and most use the Internet, along with spending hours on video games and communicating with their friends through mobile devices.

Still, relatively few kids are heavy Net users. Furthermore, most are still into TV, books and "old fashioned" toys, as well as tech-oriented entertainment, according to a new Packaged Facts report, "The Kids and Tweens Market in the U.S."

According to Simmons Kids NCS data cited by PF:

• While the "vast majority" of 6- to-11-year-olds use the Net, 55% of 9- to-11-year-old boys and 46% of girls in the same age group report using the Internet for less than an hour, or not at all, during the past week.

• A substantial majority of kids of all ages read books other than schoolbooks. Multicultural kids are as likely as non-Hispanic white kids to read books outside of school. In general, girls are more likely than boys to read books, and interest in reading books is highest among girls in the 7- to-9-year-old age range.

• Most younger boys still have cars and trucks, crayons, building sets, water guns, puzzles and stuffed toys, while older boys are partial to card games. Most girls in both the kids and tweens age groups own toys such as crayons, clothes and accessories for dolls, card games, stuffed animals and arts and crafts activity kits.

More than 90% of girls ages 6 to 10 own dolls, and nearly 80% of 6-year-old boys own action figures. Girls' interest in dolls does not begin dropping off until age 11, although only 49% of boys own action figures by that age.

Multicultural kids are more likely to have action figures and enter contests and sweepstakes, and less likely to have board games and collect cards.

• While TV's attraction for kids is certainly being diluted by other media, more than 40% of 9- to-11-year-olds watch two or more hours of television on school days. Furthermore, half of the 10 Web sites most popular among 6- to-11-year-olds are sites directly related to television networks.

Of course, the data also show the growing sway of new technology:

• About 80% of younger kids and 90% of older kids use computers at school, and 75% of younger kids and 85% of older kids use computers at home. One in four girls and one in five boys in the 9- to-11-year-old age group have a computer in their room. Kids are most likely to spend their time on computers playing games.

• Framingham, Mass.-based IDC projects that by 2010 there will be 9 million cell phone users in the U.S. in the 9-and-under age group, who will generate $1.6 billion in revenue.

• Nielsen data released in June showed that kids ages 2 to 11 viewed more online video from home than adults during the month of April (51 streams per child viewer versus 44 per adult viewer).

• The number of children who are members of a virtual world is expected to rise from about 8 million in 2007 to 20 million by 2011, according to eMarketer.

Marketers focused on virtual strategies include the Nickelodeon Kid and Family Group, which created a games and virtual world group in June, and superpower Disney, which has announced plans to invest between $5 and $10 million on each of 10 virtual worlds it is developing based on Disney characters and franchises.