It may not be their online activity of first choice, but preteens really are going online to do homework.
According to new data from Experian Simmons, 48% of children ages 6-11 had played online games at least once in the preceding month. Nothing shocking there. The second most common online activity for this age group was visiting favorite Websites, with 25% of the respondents doing so in the preceding month.
What is notable is how commonly kids said that they did homework online: 21% of those asked said they had done so at least once in the preceding month.
Video games and the Internet are the two most important types of media to children after television, according to a September 2006 study by Mindshare.
Other types of media, such as radio, newspapers and magazines, are an afterthought. The Internet is the key media type to watch with kids, since it becomes more important to them as they get older. This is likely because the Internet becomes integral to communicating with peers during the teen years.
Although teachers may be encouraging their students to do homework online, parents are likely pushing the Internet for research as well. Internet use among parents is incredibly high — 98% — according to a January 2007 study by Nickelodeon.
With such high online use by children and their parents, the Internet is the place to reach them. This trend is likely to continue. eMarketer estimates that the percentage of 8-to-11-year-olds using the Internet will reach 71% by 2010, up from an already-high 67% in 2006.
The key for marketers, both for homework resource sites and other tween-targeted services, is in recognizing shifts in how this group changes its Internet usage over time.
eMarketer senior analyst Debbie Williamson, author of the Tweens and Teens Online: From Mario to MySpace report, sums it up:
"Significant changes in online usage take place as children mature into teens," says Ms. Williamson. "Young teens between the ages of 12 and 14 spend more time online than tweens ages 8-11, and their interests broaden and deepen correspondingly. But they also use the Internet to stay in touch with things — and people — they already know."