Towards Christmas gifts for children. New research based on anonymous statistics from Kaspersky Safe Kids revealed which online content kids were most interested in during fall 2021. Looking at video games are Genshin Impact and Poppy Playtime the most sought after by children, while as far as toys are concerned their preferences have been Barbie and LEGO. Research in the music field has seen them as protagonists Coldplay who after the collaboration with the K-Pop group BTS have become popular even among the little ones.
Christmas is almost upon us and it is time to choose the last gifts. Parents can find the most suitable gift for their children by carefully studying what their interests and hobbies are. To help adults find their way around choosing gifts, Kaspersky analyzed children’s interests in different areas: games, music, movies and cartoons.
The search was done on the basis of anonymised data, such as search queries, 2 most popular Android applications and website categories, provided voluntarily by users of Kaspersky Safe Kids, with the aim of exploring children’s interests and tastes between September and November 2021.
Gaming
In the period under review, with 28.4% of all queries detected, gaming was confirmed as the most popular topic on YouTube. The most popular searches of 2021 concerned two new titles, Genshin Impact and Poppy Playtime, while Minecraft came in second with 22.4%. Let’s Play series by
Minecraft, in particular, was more popular than Roblox, with a percentage of 5.9%.
As for YouTube, the main gaming channels sought were MrBeast,
EdisonPts and Paluten.
Music
After gaming, music queries occupied the second step of the podium for the number of searches on YouTube, with a share of 19.1%. The most loved artists were BTS, BlackPink, Lil Nas X, Ariana Grande and Twice, the most popular songs were CKay – Love Nwantiti, and two new songs by a singer from the
BlackPink, LISA, “LALISA” e “MONEY”.
K-Pop still seems to be in vogue among children. Thanks to My Universe, a successful collaboration with the Korean group BTS, Coldplay have suddenly become part of the sphere of interest of the little ones.
Movies and TV series
12.1% of all searches involved movies, cartoons and TV shows. Children mostly (56.4%) searched for cartoons, and most of them expressed preferences for Peppa Pig and Miraculous: The Ladybug & Chat Noir Stories. The share of queries for television shows was 35.3%. Among the most sought after programs the German show Hilf mir is the! Jung, pleite, verzweifelt and Berlin tag und nacht, the Korean drama A Beauty of Revenge and Mr. Bean. As for the films, the children were especially interested in Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Toys and gifts
Barbie and LEGO dominated search queries for toys and possible gifts. As for the educational field, however, the animal world and chemistry and physics experiments have been very successful.
These queries should make it easier for parents to choose possible gift options based on their children’s interests.
“When it comes to children’s interests, it’s important to know both global trends and the topics that your children are passionate about specifically. A super popular trend-based gift, such as the new sneakers from Vans, can be useful and there is no risk of it going out of style. A child’s specific preferences for games, movies or music also provide good ideas for a gift. If you love music, gifts like good headphones will be a great option “, commented Anna Larkina, Kaspersky’s web content analysis expert.
To ensure that children have a positive online experience, Kaspersky recommends that parents:
• Participate in children’s online activities from an early age, so that it becomes
The standard. In this way, parents can get closer to children’s interests and hobbies, which can help solidify relationships between them and help in choosing gifts.
• Establish clear ground rules on what children can and cannot do online and explain why they are needed. These rules will need to be revised as children get older.
• Navigate and learn together. Check which sites children spend their time online on and figure out how to keep them safe.
• Consider downloading parental control applications and discussing them
with the children to explain how they work and why they need it to stay
safe online.