Regulation could disrupt the booming “kidfluencer” business
IT STARTED WITH a Lego “choo-choo train”. The video shows three-year-old Ryan Kaji picking it out from the store “because I like it”, he tells his mother, Loann. Back at the family home in Houston, Texas, the toddler opens the box and plays with his new toy. It’s nothing out of the ordinary. But it helped make the Kajis millionaires. Loann had recorded and uploaded the video to a new YouTube channel, “Ryan ToysReview”. Eight years, many toy unboxings and 35m subscribers later, “Ryan’s World”, as the channel is now known, is considered YouTube royalty. He is part of a new generation of child social-media influencers (those under the age of 18) changing the shape of kids’ entertainment in America—and making a lot of money in the process.
Ryan, now aged 11, and “Like Nastya”, a nine-year-old with 106m subscribers, lead the charge on YouTube; they earned $27m and $28m in 2021, respectively, according to Forbes. Most social-media sites require users to be over 13, but parents or guardians can create and run accounts on behalf of their children. Kid creators speak to other kids in their videos: they play make-believe with friends and family, show off new toys and give tutorials on dancing and hand-washing. A survey in 2020 by Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, found that 81% of American parents with a child aged three to four allowed their children to watch YouTube. (YouTube Kids, which lets children of all ages navigate the site under parental controls, was created in 2015.)
Money can be made through ads on videos and by partnering with brands, which see an opportunity to reach very young audiences, sometimes paying thousands of dollars for the privilege. “If it can be a revenue source for the family, and a way for them to have new experiences or put a kid through college, why not?” asks Greg Alkalay, CEO of BatteryPOP, a kids-entertainment network that also manages child…
2023-07-27 10:12:47
Link from www.economist.com
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