Downloading Entertainment Content is on the rise among Kids

According to Kids and Entertainment Content, 2011 Edition, the latest report from leading market research company, The NPD Group, for every dollar kids (ages 2-14) spend on entertainment content, $0.79 goes to physical format content and $0.21 goes towards digital format content. This is a noticeable shift towards digital acquisition when compared to 2009 when $0.85 went to physical content and $0.15 went to digital content.

The majority of kids' content collections, including both physical and digital formats, consist of music with a 72 percent share. Movie content comprises the second highest share, followed by video games, television shows and books and apps. While the majority of kids' entertainment content is still acquired in a physical format, digitally acquired content has grown substantially over the last two years at 17 percentage points for games, 14 percentage points for music, and 13 percentage points for movies.

"Kids are not skittish to use technology that is available to them, and the convenience and instant gratification afforded by downloading content is alluring to them," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "The ease and short downloading times associated with music downloads means that this is often the gateway activity to downloading for kids, but the large increase in digital games acquisition over the last two years points to how this is becoming a more mainstream way of acquisition across all types of entertainment content."

The study shows that kids start downloading digital content at a young age, with and without help from friends or family. Approximately 50 percent of kids have paid for their first form of digital content by the age of 7. One-third of kids report songs being the first type of digital content they purchased, followed by computer games and mobile games.

Most digital entertainment content is purchased with the pay-per download method, with the exception of TV shows and movies with just over half using a subscription service. This correlates with the sizeable increase noted with kids usage of online video rentals services since 2009.