Kids Spent 60% More Time on TikTok Than YouTube Last Year, 20% Tried OpenAI’s ChatGPT

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by TechCrunch.

No wonder YouTube launched Shorts. A new study of children’s online habits found that children ages 4 through 18 spent a global average of 112 minutes daily on TikTok’s short video app in 2023, an increase from 107 minutes the year prior. And although YouTube remains the world’s biggest streaming app among this demographic, kids spent 60% more time on TikTok last year. The data from a new study on kids’ digital media also examined kids’ use of novel technologies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The study takes into account the digital media habits of over 400,000 families and schools worldwide. What’s unique about its dataset is that it comes from kids’ real-world usage of technology rather than panelist questions.

On the streaming front, children spent 27% more time watching streaming services than they did last year, though the price hikes at some services may have impacted their viewership numbers. The firm found that kids spent 4% less time watching Netflix in 2023, 23% less time on Disney+, and 12% less time on Hulu. Meanwhile, YouTube and its sister app YouTube Kids beat records, with watch time for the latter growing by 14% globally, reaching 96 minutes per day, on average — the highest figure Qustodio has seen since the start of its data collection in 2019. YouTube was at 70 minutes, up from 67 last year.

TikTok remained the most popular app globally, used by 44% of kids, and Facebook, proving its staying power, was the second most popular, used by 38%. Rounding out the list of most popular social apps globally were Reddit, Instagram, and Pinterest, at 32%, 32%, and 31% usage, respectively. TikTok gobbled up far more time than its rivals, with usage of 112 minutes per day, on average globally, compared with 63 minutes for Instagram, 19 for Facebook, 16 for Pinterest, 10 for X, and 9 minutes for Reddit.

Notably, the firm for the first time this year looked into kids’ use of new technologies, including AI.

Because ChatGPT didn’t launch on iOS until May and on Android in July, Qustodio chose to look solely at the usage of OpenAI’s website. Globally, it found that almost 20% of kids accessed the site last year, making it the 18th most-visited site for the year. In the U.S., 18.7% of kids visited the site, and it was in 32nd place overall. Australia saw the largest adoption, as 24% of kids visited the site in 2023.

Source: TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/25/kids-spent-60-more-time-on-tiktok-than-youtube-last-year-20-tried-openais-chatgpt/