No kidding. A recent Cartoon Network survey shows that more kids from smaller Indian towns receive pocket money than their city counterparts. As children grow up, they convert from being ad acceptors to ad avoiders, prefer humour in ads and rate Star and Sony as second and third preferences after their favourite cartoon channel.

New Generations 2001, the patented study of Indian kids* commissioned by Cartoon Network to understand the media habits of its core audience and its role as members of the family and more specifically, its pester power, which ultimately interests the advertiser on the channel. Some of the firsts achieved by this year's study include:

• The role of the child on the purchase of household consumables
• Role of the child on brand decisions across product categories
• Identifying elements that kids like in commercials
• Consumption of various media including TV, dailies, comics and the Internet
  
  

  The little big spenders

  New Generations 2001, conducted in 14 Indian cities through interviews with 3253 children (in the age group seven - 18) and 735 mothers, found that while north Indian cities top in the amount of pocket money given to kids, Ludhiana heads the list. The percentage of kids receiving pocket money varies from city-to-city, ranging from 27 per cent to 78 per cent. Cities from South India feature lower down in the list. More than 63 per cent of kids* receive pocket money once or more than once a week. Their purchasing cycles could, therefore, be affected on a weekly basis as against a monthly household purchasing cycle. 73 per cent of kids* that receive pocket money get less than Rs 100/- per month.
  
  Four out of 10 kids claim to read newspapers and/or comics, the readership of dailies increases with age, the study notes, while the readership of comics declines after the age of 12. Eight per cent of the respondents use the computer for Internet and/or email, which compares perfectly vis-à-vis adults. Amongst Kids, Internet emerges as the second most important medium after TV.
  
  

  Baby couch potato?

  The research reveals that 4:00-8:00 pm is the best time slot to target kids as that is the time when they have complete control on the remote. Cartoons emerged as the clear favourite programming genre amongst kids with 52 per cent voting for animated entertainment. After cartoons, boys preferred sports followed by movies, whereas girls moved to music followed by family serials.
  
  Cartoon Network also claims to top the list in the following categories among the seven to 14 year olds -
  
• Top of Mind Channel
• Favourite Channel
• Most frequently watched channel
  
  

  Cartoons head the list of kid favourites

  The study observed kids' attitude towards advertising and revealed that as they grow up they convert from being ad acceptors (stay on with the channel, do other things in the same room) to ad avoiders (change channels, go out of the room, do other things in the same room).
  
  Humour ranked as the most common important ingredient among both boys and girls. After humour, while boys liked ads with their favourite sports personality, girls liked ads with their favourite actors/actresses.
  
  

  Catch 'em young - TV's the best medium to attract kids

  Television also emerged as the best medium of advertising contests/schemes from the study. Telephone was voted as the best medium of entering a contest. Forty-six per cent voted for the telephone, 31 per cent through post and only 10 per cent via e-mail.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  kids* = 4-14 age group, SEC ABC, C&S homes