Summer may still be full swing, with children basking in homework-free afternoons, but back-to-school marketing has shifted into high gear. Parents are elbow-deep in shopping lists for school essentials like clothing and stationery, making it a critical time for brands that are focused on young families.
Marketers who are focused on reaching this audience can do so through The Roku Channel’s Kids & Family programming, which has amassed an impressive audience of 46 million viewers.¹ The Kids & Family slate offers not only exclusive premieres for shows like Tata & Kuma, Princess Mirrorbelle, and Pocketwatch’s Ryan’s World Titan Universe Holiday Adventure but also classic shows like Garfield and Friends and trending YouTube favorites like Blippi.
A comprehensive analysis of streaming behaviors and their subsequent influence on buying decisions reveals several important insights. First, it turns out that streaming time is often family time. Second, children have remarkable sway over family purchases. Finally, Kids & Family ads are a potent tool for engagement and conversion, leading consumers to discover, research, and make purchases.
To capitalize on the back-to-school season, brands have a wide variety of options. For instance, they can sponsor seasonally or thematically curated TV or movie playlists that surface relevant content and characters, offer tagged vignettes featuring popular characters like Roxy & Kurtis, or show 15- or 30-second video ads during commercial breaks. And this upcoming holiday season, brands can surround Roxy & Kurtis in their new tagged vignette “Super Chefs” as they make a fun holiday treat before movie night.
“As more families cut the cord and watch less traditional TV, they are harder to reach during vital shopping seasons like back-to-school,” said Katina Papas Wachter, head of ad revenue strategy at The Roku Channel. “But The Roku Channel’s Kids & Family reaches a wide audience of consumers who convert. Plus, it can set the stage for other important moments on their marketing calendars like holiday shopping.”
Here are three compelling reasons brands should consider incorporating Kids and Family streaming ads into their back-to-school marketing campaigns and beyond.
A large majority of Roku parents (71%) don’t have pay TV in their homes.² Instead, many opt for advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) to get free programming in exchange for watching commercials. The Roku Channel Kids & Family leads the pack, being streamed by more households than any other standalone kids and family AVOD app on Roku.³ Notably, 95% of parents who watch The Roku Channel Kids & Family watch with their children weekly, and 52% stream kids & family content multiple times daily as a family.⁴
Maybe it's the summer downtime, but families with kids stream more during the back-to-school advertising period. In fact, we found a 54% increase in Kids & Family audience reach and a 66% increase in Kids & Family streaming hours during the August to September 2022 back-to-school period.⁵
Any parent will tell you that children can be very vocal about things they want. If they see an ad for the perfect shirt for the first day of school, they won’t be shy about telling mom and dad. In households streaming Kids & Family programming, children who “often or always” reference brands or characters they saw advertised are 52% more prevalent than in other families. Plus, an overwhelming 88% of Roku parents value their children's opinion during purchasing decisions.⁶
Aligning with The Roku Channel Kids & Family experience can lead to remarkable ROI because they guide consumers down the purchase funnel. Post-ad surveys of parents reveal that 43% learned about a new product/brand from a Kids & Family ad, 45% looked up information on the product/brand, and 52% went to the store to check out and purchase the product/brand.⁷
Furthermore, back-to-school campaigns can serve as a launch pad for holiday marketing efforts. After all, a brand that leaves an impression during back-to-school shopping is more likely to be remembered when the holiday shopping list comes into focus. Strategic brand positioning during back-to-school not only pays immediate dividends, but also lays a solid foundation for successful activations around other tentpole dates on your marketing calendar.
Access the Roku Advertising Presents: Kids & Family series (PW: RoxyKurtis!) for more information.
¹ Roku Internal Data using Experian, 2022
² Roku Data, Q2'23 | Roku parent: A18-54, streamed on a Roku device (player or stick) in the past month and has at least one child under the age of 18 in the household (N=1109) | TRC K&F parent: A18-54, streamed The Roku Channel Kids & Family in the past month and has at least one child under the age of 18 in the household N=467
³ Internal Roku Data, Q4 2022
⁴ Roku + Lucid Survey, 2022
⁵ Roku Internal Data, Q3'22 (Aug. 22 - Sep. 22)
⁶¯⁷ Roku + Lucid Survey, 2022