With schools closed early due to the growing horrifying scenario in the entire world, it has been a task for parents to keep the kids occupied at home and make them aware of the current situation. There are no second thoughts that screen time has increased in every household, making it easy for all to pass the time. The pandemic has forced the content creators to provide the audience with new, fresh content and make their mark in the growing competitive digital world.
Television, which was losing its charm because of the OTT crowd, now has a new profound place in everybody’s schedule. Be it the repeat telecast of the old loved Ramanayan, Mahabharata or Shaktiman. With the adults enjoying their childhood shows again, kids are busy with their favourite Doreamon and Chhota Bheem, suggests study from research insights by Thinking Hats Consumer Insights.
Thinking Hats conducted a digital survey across four diverse geographies including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Lucknow. The team came to the conclusion that during covid-19 lockdown, watching TV contributes to the highest spent time among other activities. Average 3.6 hours are spent daily watching TV against 1.4 hours earlier, before lockdown.
Playing games on mobile phones ranks third amongst other activities. Currently, time spent has gone up to average 1.6 hours, which was 43 mins earlier. Content consumption on OTT platforms has increased by 29 mins during the lockdown, with time spent on social media doubling to an hour as compared to 30 minutes before lockdown.
While watching TV alone, kids channels were watched the most (81 per cent) followed by Hindi Gec (37 per cent), Infotainment channels (29 per cent) and Hindi Movies (18 per cent). Hungama (31 per cent), Sab TV (30 per cent) and Cartoon Network (28 per cent) are kids’ most liked channels, during the quarantine.
Doreamon (26 per cent), Taraak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma (26 per cent) and Chhota Bheem (19 per cent) are the top three TV shows that kids like watching the most. With the insights received, we can see that content on TV is most liked or viewed by parents and kids alike, comprising 97 per cent of the consumption, followed by art/ craft content (two per cent), infotainment (one per cent) and movies (one per cent).
According to the survey by Thinking Hats, 64 per cent parents are finding it very difficult to keep their child engaged during the lockdown. 85 per cent parents from Mumbai and Bengaluru are highly concerned about their kids engagement in various activities, whereas 75 per cent parents of kids between age group six to nine are concerned about the activity engagement too. Apart from the screen time, parents are trying to indulge kids in other activities like playing indoor games, creating art and craft items and reading books.
