Growth In Kids and Parents Co-Viewing Media

According to research from nScreen Media, 75% of parents surveyed said they watch video content with their children several times a week or more.

This was happening before Covid-19 and is expected to continue after it passes. This is true across genders, demographics and income levels.

Once the pandemic ends, 66% of parents say they expect the time they spend watching content with their children will stay the same or even increase.

The most popular device to view media for today's kids and their parents are smart TVs.

The most popular co-viewing content comes from...

• YouTube Kids is the most popular with 52% of kids using it.

• PBS Kids came in second with 46% of kids using it.

• Kidstream came in 3rd with 22% using it.

• Noggin came in with 21% using it.

• Boomerang, DreamWorks TV and Hoopla all have 15% of kids using it.

Disney+ has emerged as another big winner with 75% of parents saying their family watches it.

Kids are the deciding voice in what families will watch together. 50% of parents say their child mostly chooses what they watch.

We constantly talk about creating strategies and content to help parents disciple their children. And many churches (especially during the pandemic) are doing this. They are creating online content for families to watch with their children at home. This is awesome. What an opportunity to see kids and their parents grow together in their faith.

There's a big question that must be answered by all churches who are currently providing family content. The question is this - will you continue to provide online content for families once the pandemic has subsided? Based on the responses, it seems like a great discipleship tool for families to experience together.

At the same time, we know kids grow in their faith when they have not only caring, involved parents, but also caring volunteers who invest in them at church. Combine these two and you can see effective discipleship happen.

And so the goal would be for parents to watch the provided content with their children at home. Pair this with follow up discussion questions and activities and you've got a solid discipleship tool for parents and their children.

I will say this - the content needs to be good enough to capture the attention of the kids at home. Subpar content can still be watched at home, but parents will often have to make their child watch it. The content we provide will obviously not be on the same level as Disney or Nickelodeon. But they will watch it, if it at least holds their attention.

If you are reading this and you are producing digital content for kids and parents to watch together, would love to see what you are providing. You can leave a link in the comment section so we can see what you are doing.

Kids are a big influence on their parents. Getting kids and parents watching content together is growing. Even beyond Covid-19, it will likely continue to be a major tool that we can use to disciple kids and parents together.