A new study from Giraffe Insights and Precise.TV of kids aged 2-12 in the U.S. and U.K. has found that ads on YouTube have twice the level of recall compared to any other platform. In Q4 ’21, 73% of the kids in the survey group said they recalled seeing an ad on YouTube, vs. 33% on broadcast TV and 32% on VOD. TV clips, edutainment and gaming were the three specific types of content on YouTube being watched most often.

Beyond recall, ads on YouTube are driving higher purchase levels. The study found that in Q4 ’21, 39% of kids surveyed cited YouTube as the place they saw an ad for the last thing they asked their parents to buy. That was 3x higher than the 12% who cited broadcast TV. No other platform was above 9%.

That’s especially important because the study also found (no surprise) that parents are moving their shopping online. Almost 80% of respondents said they’ve shopped more online in the past year.

Also no surprise, contextual alignment of the ads was found to be critical for their recall success. 70% of kids said if they’re watching a video and see a related ad, they’re more likely to remember it. Part of YouTube’s success is its broad reach with the study finding 90% of kids watching it.

YouTube has heavily emphasized content for kids, with its specialized YouTube Kids app. In its recent announcement to wind down investments in original content, YouTube said that it would still fund kids’ content, indicating the company sees significant value.

That makes sense: massive kids adoption of YouTube plus contextually relevant ads that have the highest recall plus enabling purchase all means YouTube is creating a strong behavioral loop for young kids and their parents.

There is a lot more data in the study which can be downloaded here. The study, “Kids & the Screen” was fielded by Giraffe Insights, a global research agency, and Precise TV a video advertising platform that focuses on using contextual intelligence.