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The NPD Group has released its annual study on Kids and Consumer Electronics, revealing that while consoles and portable game systems still see the highest usage level from the demographic, tablets are very much on the rise.
The study data comes from an online survey conducted from March 6-21 of this year. Surveys were completed by adults over the age of 23 who have children ages 4-14.
Televisions, desktops, and smartphones maintained their typical high usage year over year, but it was the jump to relevancy for tablets that’s most eye-catching in the report.
Tablet usage was at just three per cent last year among kids, but rose to 13 per cent in 2012 with the study noting that tablets are used most amongst younger children.
Portable media player usage dropped from 48 per cent last year to 35 per cent, while portable game systems came in as the most popular devices owned by kids this time around.
"Kids are using tablets to game, watch movies and TV shows, read books and listen to music-even occasionally for taking pictures- so they have embraced the utility of these devices quite rapidly," said Russ Crupnick, senior vice president, industry analysis, The NPD Group. "Older kids also use the tablets for social media and communication, which squarely places these devices at the center for discovery and evangelism of new services and applications, as well as for brands and entertainment of all sorts."
The study adds that households with kids own an average of ten different devices, using around five of them actively. General ownership of consoles, portable game systems, tablets, and digital video cameras in households had a major year-over-year increase as well.
