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Ratna Bhushan

NEW DELHI, May 14

HERE'S something to make you sit up and take note. It's not the heroics of Superman or GI Joe, but good old humour that works best when it comes to advertising targeted at children.

This is among the key findings of New Generations 2001, Cartoon Network's patented study on Indian kids, conducted across 14 cities, with a respondent profile of 3,253 children between 7 and 18 years, besides 735 mothers. The study seeks insights into issues such as pocket money, disposable income and media habits.

Another surprise comes on the pocket money parameter. It's not any bustling metro, but small-time Ludhiana that tops the charts. In other words, kids from Ludhiana receive the maximum pocket money, the study indicates. Even Jaipur and Indore have scored ahead of the metros on this parameter. Across all cities, over 63 per cent kids said they received pocket money once or more than once a week, and 73 per cent said they get under Rs 100 a month as pocket money.

And here's something for media planners. Kids wield complete control of the television remote between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Cartoons remain the favourite show on television, with 52 per cent kids voting in favour of animated entertainment. After cartoons, boys prefer sports and then movies, while it's music followed by family serials for girls. Cartoon Network remains the favourite and top-of-mind channel for this age group, followed by Star Plus and Sony Entertainment.

In terms of media consumption, four out of 10 kids contacted claimed to read newspapers or comics, with both categories getting 42 per cent votes each. Readership of dailies increased with age, while that of comics peaked at age 12 and then began to decline. Predictably, boys said they first read the sports page followed by the front page, while girls followed the reverse trend.

Another predictable finding - Internet emerges as the second most important medium after television. Computer usage increased with age - 32 per cent for seven-year-olds, and 64 per cent for 14-year-olds. Computers were used primarily for schoolwork, with 44 per cent kids using computers at homes and 31 per cent at school.

Other key findings: Santro emerged as the favourite car among this respondent profile, Nokia was voted as the best-liked mobile phone, television as the best medium for advertising contests and promotion schemes, and the telephone as the best medium for entering a contest.

In all, New Generations covered 27 consumables in the household and personal care category, in addition to 19 durables categories.

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