Children's Exposure to TV Advertising in 1977 and 2004

Click on the Attached File at right to view the entire report.Executive Summary Obesity has become a major health concern in the U.S. and other countries as overweight and obesity rates have increased markedly since the early 1980s. The rise in children's obesity is a particular concern, because overweight children are more likely to become overweight adults, and because obese children are likely to suffer from associated medical problems earlier in life. Food marketing is among the postulated contributors to the rise in obesity rates. Food marketing to children has come under particular scrutiny because children may be more susceptible to marketing and because early eating habits may persist. Some researchers report that children's exposure to television advertising has been increasing along with the rise in children's obesity rates. This report presents a comprehensive analysis of the exposure of children, ages 2-11, to television advertising based on copyrighted Nielsen Monitor-Plus/Nielsen Media Research audience data from the 2004 television programming season. The detailed data covers the individual advertisements shown during four weeks of national and local ad-supported programming and includes paid commercials, public service announcements, and promotions for television programming. These data are projected to annual estimates. Thirty years ago similar assessments of children's television advertising were done for the Federal Trade Commission's 1978 Children's Advertising Rulemaking. Since these research reports were done before the rise in children's obesity, they provide a baseline to measure changes in children's exposure to television advertising. Since the late 1970s, other marketing has likely changed and new forms of marketing have emerged, including Internet-based advertising techniques. This report does not cover these marketing activities, but the FTC is in the process of conducting another study to attempt to gauge the extent of all forms of marketing to children.1 This report can also be used to measure future changes in children's exposure to television advertising as industry, parents, and children react to these health concerns. Summary of Major Findings for 2004 Children's Exposure to Television Advertising In 2004 we estimate that children ages 2-11 saw about 25,600 television advertisements. In this study, advertisements include paid ads, promotions for other programming, and public service announcements. Of these 25,600 ads, approximately 18,300 were paid ads and most of the remaining 7,300 ads were promotions for other programming. The average ad seen by children was about 25 seconds long. Thus, children saw about 10,700 minutes of TV advertising in 2004. For comparison, adults saw approximately 52,500 ads and 22,300 minutes of advertising. Our estimates differ from other published estimates of children's exposure to television advertising; one widely cited estimate, that children see around 40,000 ads per year, is more than 50 percent higher than ours. Our estimates are based on very detailed data not available to most researchers. Most published estimates are based on aggregate estimates of the amount of time children watch television, combined with counts of ads aired per hour on selected samples of TV programming. This approach can be accurate as long as the component estimates are accurate representations of children's viewing habits. But our results indicate, for instance, that ad-supported television accounts for only 70 percent of children's TV viewing in 2004, and children get much of their advertising exposure from prime time and other nonchildren's programming. These and related issues must be reflected in the component estimates for such aggregate estimates to be accurate. Amount of Time Children Spend Viewing Ad-Supported Television We estimate that in 2004 children 2-11 watched about two and one-quarter hours of ad-supported television per day, for a total of 16 hours per week, about 70 percent of their total television viewing time, about 23 hours per week. Teens, ages 12-17, watched about two and one-half hours of ad-supported television daily. Adults watched nearly four and one-quarter hours daily, almost twice as much as children, and this accounts for most of adults' greater ad exposure. When Children Are Exposed to Ads We find considerable dispersion in when children accumulated their ad exposure. Saturday morning between 8 am and noon was an important contributor to children's ad exposure, but was only 4.3 percent of the total. Sunday morning contributed 2.5 percent. Evenings between 8 pm and 12 am contributed nearly 29 percent of children's total ad exposure. The time between 4 pm and 8 pm contributed another 26 percent of the total. Prime-time viewing peaked around 8 pm and was the primary time when ad exposure from broadcast programming exceeded that from cable programming. These patterns of ad exposure have important implications for studies that sample children's programming in an e ort to produce broad estimates of children's ad exposure, and they help to explain some of the differing results found in the research literature. Children's Exposure to Food Advertising Children 2-11 saw approximately 5,500 food ads in 2004, 22 percent of all ads viewed. The leading categories of food advertising seen by children include Restaurant and Fast Food (5.3 percent of total ad exposure); Cereal (3.9 percent; Highly Sugared Cereals are 85 percent of this category); Desserts and Sweets (3.5 percent); Snacks (1.9 percent); Sweetened Drinks (1.7 percent); Dairy (1.4 percent); and Prepared Entrees (0.9 percent). All other food categories combined are 3.1 percent of ad exposure. We also group shows according to whether the children's share of the audience is at least 20 percent (family shows) or at least 50 percent (children's shows). Food advertising is a larger share of children's advertising exposure as child share increases -- from 22 percent of ad exposures on all shows to 32 percent on children's shows. The proportion of children's ad exposure is higher on children's shows for all of the food categories listed above, except for Restaurant and Fast Food ads. Children get nearly 80 percent of their Cereal ad exposure on children's shows and about one-third of their Sweetened Drink and Restaurant and Fast Food advertising there. The other food categories are between these extremes. Sedentary Entertainment Dominates Other Ads Seen by Children Seventy-eight percent of the ads children saw in 2004 were for nonfood products. The top three nonfood product categories were Promotions for television programming (28 percent), Screen/Audio Entertainment (7.8 percent), and Games, Toys and Hobbies (7.5 percent). Together these three categories of sedentary entertainment products amounted to 43 percent of children's ad exposure, approximately double the number of food ads seen by children. Children got approximately 85 percent of their Games, Toys and Hobbies ad exposure on children's shows, as well as 44 percent of their Screen/Audio Entertainment exposure, and 33 percent of their Promotions exposure. Together these three categories constituted 85 percent of children's nonfood ad exposure from children's shows. Children's TV Viewing Is Concentrated on Cable Cable programming was a major source of children's television viewing and ad exposure in 2004. Sixty-one percent of children's ad exposure and 72 percent of their food ad exposure was from cable programming. For children's programming, the concentration was even higher; 96.5 percent of all children's ad exposure from children's shows and 97.6 percent of their food ad exposure from children's shows was from cable programming. Changes in Children's Exposure to Advertising Between 1977 and 2004 Children's Exposure to Paid Advertising Has Fallen; Overall Ad Exposure Is Up Studies from the FTC's Children's Advertising Rulemaking indicate that children 2-11 saw about 19,700 paid ads and 21,900 ads overall in 1977. When compared to our estimates of 18,300 paid ads and 25,600 ads in 2004, we find that children's exposure to paid advertising fell by about 7 percent and exposure to all advertising rose by about 17 percent since 1977. This difference reflects the substantial increase in children's exposure to promotional ads for television programming over this time period. Children saw approximately 2 percent fewer minutes of advertising and 19 percent fewer minutes of paid advertising in 2004 than in 1977. These reductions reflect the combined impact of the reduced amount of time children spend watching ad-supported television in 2004 compared to 1977 and ads that are shorter on average. Children's Exposure to Food Advertising Has Not Risen The 1977 studies do not give a complete estimate of children's exposure to food ads, but using other data from the period we find that food ad exposure has not risen and is likely to have fallen modestly. In our primary scenario, we estimate that children saw 6,100 food ads in 1977. This suggests that children saw about 9 percent fewer food ads in 2004 than in 1977. In 1977 ads for Cereals and for Desserts and Sweets dominated children's food ad exposure, with the Restaurant and Fast Food and the Sweetened Drinks categories also among the top categories. As seen above, in 2004 these categories were still among the top categories of food ads children saw, though Cereals and Desserts and Sweets no longer dominated. Restaurant and Fast Food ads had an increased presence, and were joined by Snacks, Dairy and Prepared Entrees as substantial sources of children's food ad exposure. Thus, the mix of food ads seen by children in 2004 is somewhat more evenly spread across these food categories than in 1977. Children's Exposure to Ads for Sedentary Entertainment Has Grown The reduction in food advertisements seen by children has been more than compensated for by substantially increased Promotions for television programming and increased advertising for Screen and Audio Entertainment. These two categories are both larger than any food category in 2004 and exceed Games, Toys and Hobbies, which had been the top nonfood category in 1977. Children's Ad Exposure Is More Concentrated on Children's Cable Programming in 2004 Children get approximately half of their food advertising and about one-third of their total advertising exposure from programs in which children are at least 50 percent of the audience in 2004, compared to about one quarter in 1977. Ads for some food categories and for toys appear to be targeted to children.2 Virtually all of this 2004 ad exposure on children's programming is from cable shows; in 1977, when cable programming was in its infancy, children's shows came from national broadcast and local sources. Discussion of Empirical Findings and ObesityEvidence on TV Advertising's Relation to Obesity Many commentators have suggested that marketing to children may be a significant factor in the growth of obesity in U.S. children. This hypothesis is well beyond anything we could test formally with the television advertising data analyzed here. Nonetheless, our data can shed light on aspects of this hypothesized link. First, our data do not support the view that children are exposed to more television food advertising today. Our best estimates indicate that children's exposure to food advertising on television has fallen by about 9 percent between 1977 and 2004. Children's exposure to all paid television advertising has fallen as well. Second, our data do not support the view that children are seeing more advertising for low nutrition foods. In both years the advertised foods are concentrated in the snacking, breakfast, and restaurant product areas. While the foods advertised on children's programming in 2004 do not constitute a balanced diet, this was the case as well in 1977, before the rise in obesity. Evidence Related to Ad Restrictions on Children's Programming Some have called for various restrictions on advertising to children, including a complete ban on advertising to younger children and further restrictions on the number of minutes of advertising on children's television programming. Others have called for self-regulation or legislation that would limit advertising on children's programming to foods that meet specified nutrition characteristics. Some industry members have proposed voluntary commitments along these lines. This report does not provide a basis to assess the likely effects of any of these approaches, or the substantial legal issues that would have to be addressed for regulation, but it does have several findings that relate to this discussion. First, children today do get half of their food advertising from shows where children are at least 50 percent of the audience. Thus, changes to the mix of ads on children's shows could potentially have an effect on the mix and number of food advertisements that children see. This effect would be considerably larger than would have been the case in 1977, when programming was not as specialized and children did not get much of their advertising exposure from children's programs. That said, children also get half of their food advertising exposure from nonchildren's shows and food ads on those shows might increase if restrictions were placed on children's programming. Second, our study does provide some insight on another issue that has received little attention in the public discussion: what type of advertising would likely replace the restricted food advertising, if it is replaced? The hope is that advertising for better food might increase. Beyond that, the best guidance on this question is found by looking at the other products currently advertised on children's programs, since these are the products most likely to increase their advertising if food advertising is reduced. Currently, advertisements for sedentary entertainment products outnumber food advertisements by two to one and constitute most of the other advertising on children's programming. Presumably these products would expand their advertising further, if food advertising is reduced. Whether such a shift in advertising seen by children would affect obesity in U.S. children -- either positively or negatively -- is an open question which has received little attention. Finally, it is worth noting that a restriction on advertising on children's programming would not fall evenly on industry participants. In 2004 broadcast networks had very few programs where children were more than 50 percent of the audience. Successful children's programming is now largely on children's cable networks. In fact, over 97 percent of food advertisements children see on children's shows are from cable programming. Final Notes Our study is limited to advertising on television. Television is still the medium where food advertisers spend most of their advertising dollars. In 2004 approximately 75 percent of all food advertising spending on measured media was spent on television, down from 83 percent in 1977. Many producers are exploring other advertising media and methods as television audiences become more expensive to reach. This is true for advertising to children as well. Advergaming, child-oriented producer-sponsored websites, product placements and other tie-ins with movies and television programming are all part of the marketing landscape, and research to quantify these e orts is only beginning.3 This study was conducted to provide a comprehensive assessment of the amount and type of television advertising seen by children in 2004. It has been nearly 30 years since the last evaluation of children's television ad exposure using detailed viewing data. Advertising seen by children has received considerable attention in recent years as a possible contributor to rising obesity in American children, and as a possible vehicle to help reverse that trend. Hopefully, this report will provide useful information to guide discussion of the issues. The report also provides a baseline against which to measure future changes in children's exposure to television advertising as parents, firms and children react to obesity concerns. 1Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 74 / Wednesday, April 18, 2007 / Notices. See also Moore (2006) on advergaming. 2See Gantz et al. (2007) for a recent content analysis of television advertising on children's and general interest programming. Neither this report nor Gantz et al. (2007) considers whether children may respond differently to the types of ads aired on children's programs. 3The FTC is beginning a study to attempt to gauge the extent of these other forms of marketing to children. Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 74 / Wednesday, April 18, 2007 / Notices.

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