Children ditch television for YouTube, reveals new study

A new study has shed light on children's TV habits suggesting that traditional television is still how most of the children surveyed consumed media.

According to an independent survey conducted by Colmar Brunton showed that YouTube is now the most popular platform for children with 35% accessing it daily compared with the most popular television channel TV 2 at 32%, Stuff.co.nz reported.

The researchers talked to more than 700 children aged 6-14 years old, and their parents, in late 2014 where they found that 88% of the children questioned watched television daily, 66% used the internet and 36% listened to the radio and only 7% of the group used on-demand online sites.

Children surveyed preferred cartoons as their favourite type of television show followed by animals shows and sports.

Air chief executive Jane Wrightson said that as they marked 25 years of funding local content, they knew that we must always keep pace with change. Wrightson asserted that with so many global options for content now accessible by children it was vital they continued to see and hear themselves and their world reflected in the media and to have a sense of national identity.

When asked about their habits, 90% of parents agreed it was important that children's shows reflected reality and many said they were taking increased measures to monitor their child's media consumption.