The increasing use of connected devices by pre-schoolers this year may reflect growing access to on-demand services, especially subscription-based options such as Netflix which has quickly risen through the ranks over the last three to four years, says Childwise's research manager, Jenny Ehren.
Young children are spending record time on hand-held devices. According to new data published on Thursday, the amount of time under-5s devote to watching TV and video content via such appliances is now 2.8 hours, per day. That's an increase three out of four infants aged under five have regular access to a computer or mobile tablet. Last year, they spent 2.6 hours each day, but this has now risen to 2.8 hours. In addition, the majority of pre-school children also have their very own gadget.YouTube was named the most popular app across all ages and both genders, with boys watching the latter for longer than girls. CBeebies remains the most popular TV channel among the age group, but content from subscription-based services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, have also 'gained significant ground this year'.
The research, which was conducted by Childwise, also discovered increased interactions between pre-school children and virtual assistants, such as Siri and Alexa. In excess of two-thirds of pre-school households now possess a voice recognition gadget, with more than a quarter of under-fives having used such software. However, despite this, the report also discovered an increase in offline activities among the same demographic, with a spike in the number of under-fives doing crafts and going to the library.
Their list of favourite programmes is becoming more varied, and whilst many are drawn from across the different pre-school channels, we are beginning to see more references to content exclusively available on YouTube and paid-for streaming services.'This a year has seen a noticeable increase in gaming with three out of 10 under-fives now regularly exposed to video games, often as players, but also as spectators as well.