Why Skylanders Matters to Children
Skylanders is a video game that combines physical toys with a traditional video game experience. Part of the Spyro series of games, the Activision series has the potential to become a $1bn franchise!
But what’s the secret to its success and why do kids love it so much? To answer this Dubit spoke to family gaming expert Andy Robertson. You can read Andy’s article on our Dubit Platform blog.
Who is the best superhero?
Every month we conduct exclusive research for Toy News – the leading publication for anyone working in the toy industry.
In February we asked Children about their favourite superheros and superhero toys. With new Spiderman and Batman films coming out in 2012, as well the new Avengers movie, this year is going to be huge for fans of silly costumes!
For anyone who has wondered who would win a fight between Batman, Spiderman, and Superman, the answer as far as kids are concerned is Spiderman! The wiley webs-slinger was voted the most popular superhero beating Batman and Superman into second and third place. However, it isn’t just the classic DC and Marvel characters that kids enjoy, The Incredibles polled higher than characters from The Avengers, Fantastic Four, and the X-Men.
If you want to know which characters make the best toys or how well female superheros fared, see the full report on Toy News.
What do children want tablets for?
Every month we conduct exclusive research for Toy News – the leading publication for anyone working in the toy industry.
In December we found out what children really thought of tablet computers and what they use them for. Is it all about Apple or do child-focused tablets like the LeapPad and InnoTab have a place in the market?
Apple awareness starts young, between the ages of six and ten 79 per cent of children are aware of the iPad. Leapfrog’s LeapPad and VTech’s Innotab scored an impressive 59 per cent for awareness, not bad for such new products. Despite the high level of iPad awareness only 19 per cent of the children surveyed have access to one.
If you want to find out how children use the tablets and which score highest reading and playing games, read the full report online at Toy News.
Image courtesy of flickingerbradMore than half of children own a toy based on a virtual world
Children’s virtual worlds – like Moshi Monsters and Club Penguin – aren’t just popular online; they’re also proving a big hit as toys with new research showing over half of UK children own a toy based on a virtual world with some as popular as Dr Who.
Dubit recently studied the popularity of toys based on online worlds, looking at Disney’s Club Penguin, Mind Candy’s Moshi Monsters, as well as Build-a-BearVille, Poptropica and Webkinz.
The study of 500 kids showed that an amazing 55 per cent of children owned a toy from at least one of these games. The most popular was Disney’s Club Penguin, with 32 per cent of children owning a branded toy from the online world. Club Penguin, which has 150 million registered users (globally) launched in 2005 and has spawned a series of books and video games. Each toy is connected to the virtual world as they’re packaged with a code that allows items to be unlocked in the virtual world.
Moshi Monsters, whose plush toys and Mini Moshling Treehouse are expected to be among the most popular toys for Christmas this year, was a close second. The study showed that even before Christmas a quarter of UK children already own a Moshi Monster or a Moshling (a Moshi pet). Since launching in 2008 Moshi Monsters has gone on to accumulate 50m registered users, with one in three British children believed to be a member. Even with the publishing industry struggling The Moshi Magazine, launched in February, has accumulated the largest circulation of any UK children’s magazine.
As a comparison with toys related to kid’s TV shows, the research shows that just as many children own Club Penguin toys as they do toys based on Dr Who. Furthermore, Moshi Monster toys are more popular (25%) than toys based on the cartoon Ben 10 (20%), and only marginally less than popular than Spongebob Square Pants (29 per cent).*
Interestingly, toys from virtual worlds are gender-neutral, with equal popularity across boys and girls.
73 per cent of the children questioned had played at least one of these online games, with half having played Club Penguin and 47 per cent stating that they’d played Moshi Monsters.
Dubit’s head of research, Peter Robinson, commented: “Children are spending more time playing in virtual worlds and now those worlds are becoming part of their offline playtime.
“Today’s kids are platform agnostic and don’t care where their favourite stories and characters come from. It used to be the case that books or TV shows launched characters and toys, but now online entertainment is proving just as important.”
*Research into children’s TV shows was carried out in October for Toy News.
Youth Trends – Hauling
Teenage girls talking about their High Street bargains? No it isn’t the latest show to come to MTV, it’s a new youth trend taking over YouTube!
Definition - haul: In short: a shopping spree a vlog titled “Makeup Haul” or “(Store Name) Haul” is a video showing a shopping spree in that given area, showing products or clothing that will usually be featured in future How To, or tutorial videos. (Source Urban Dictionary)
Who’s doing it? –Teenage girls. It’s big in America and is a gaining momentum in the UK.
What is it? – The trend for teenage girls to show off their latest purchases through the medium of YouTube. Sometimes it’s bragging about bargains, reviewing clothes, or just showing the store bags they have and what’s inside.
So it’s an American thing? The biggest Haulers are American but it’s by no means unique to the US with UK teens getting involved too.
Are we talking about designer products? As most of the products are bought by the Haulers, it’s usually restricted to the High Street. Brands such as H&M and Forever 21 seem to attract most of the attention.
They’re being paid for this? No, not often: most just like to talk about their shopping. The fact that the girls are spending their own money adds to the charm.
Are brands involved at all? Some brands (mostly US ones) have started to see the benefit of targeting Haulers: these include Urban Outfitters , Forever 21 and cosmetics brand ELF. Some simply send the Haulers free products, others host Hauling competitions.
Does this sound familiar? It does. They are the female equivalent of the men unboxing videos they record themselves opening their latest gear or gadget.
Who should I watch? The Queen of the Haulers is Blair Fowler, otherwise known as JuicyStar07. Her videos attract over half a million views and she has been nominated for a Teen Choice Award, which she explains at a frantic pace in this video. Most Haulers don’t get close to this level of fame but you might want to check out UK based Dollybowbow and HollyYMBB who have 35,986 and 8,822 subscribers respectively.
Will it last? As long as there are teenage girls who enjoy shopping and making videos then this trend has legs.
Carry on the debate on Twitter with the #dubittrends hashtag.
