Children's Media Use Study 2015

In late 2014 Colmar Brunton, commissioned by NZ On Air and the Broadcasting Standards Authority, carried out a comprehensive face to face survey of more than 700 children aged 6-14 and their parents about the media consumption behaviour of children.

NZ On Air funds content for television, radio and online audiences. We will go where the audiences are - so having a clear understanding of where they are, and how media consumption is changing is important to our strategy.

This survey forms a benchmark against which, over time, we will monitor changing audience behaviour, but also provides useful information to inform a new Children's Strategy.

The survey has a maximum margin for error of ± 3.7%

The study finds that 88% of 6-14 year olds watch TV daily, while 66% use the internet and 36% listen to the radio. Use of On demand sites is low with this group at only 7%.

The growth of access to and use of mobile devices stands out. 72% have access to a tablet and 48% have access to a smartphone. Overall, internet use has increased 28% since the last survey (2007). The lowest penetration is in low income households.

Youtube is now the most popular media platform for children – 35% access it daily, compared to the most popular TV channel, TV2 at 32%.

The children in the survey strongly preferred cartoons as their favourite type of TV shows, followed by shows with animals and sports. Their parents expressed a strong preference for shows with animals, sports , documentary and information shows, and stories about real NZ children and families.

Nine in 10 parents agree it is really important that children are able to watch local shows that reflect them and their world.

Read the full report below.

For a comparison to the UK read the UK Children's Media Use report 2014