From the LA Times.
One of the many standout quotes from this article is "Tween boys, ages 9 to 14, account for about $50 billion in spending worldwide."
An interesting article that reminds me of the times we are living in when it comes to programming for children, the marketing term "branding", and how specified the TV programming is becoming for each age group in the 21st Century.
What is a "tween" and when and who started that term first? I have heard it a lot lately.
Wikipedia describes a tween as the following:
"Tween is a neologism and marketing term, especially in the West, which means roughly the same thing as preteen. It is a portmanteau of between and teen. The age range of tweens in generally considered to be eight to twelve years of age. Marketers describe the driving psychographic motivation of this group as desperately wanting to be a teen, but not about to stop being a kid. The term was first used in J.R.R. Tolkien's 1954 novel The Lord of the Rings to refer to Hobbits in their twenties."
This new Disney Channel Disney XD by the article's description of it, reminds me a bit of that special PBS Frontline documentary called Merchants of Cool and once again, how the big companies and advertisers are marketing teenagers today.
On one hand, I am happy that boys in that age group of 9 to 14 finally have something to call their own in comparison to all the programing on the children's cable channels that are marketed and geared towards girls.
On the other hand, after viewing the Frontline PBS Documentary "Merchants of Cool" several years ago, it makes me a bit concerned of how the advertisers in so many cases skip the parents in their approach and direct the ads and commercials so aggressively and directly at the children in their presentations.
Flashback to the 1970s & 1980s: It seemed as kids growing up in the 70s and 80s, when we as children sat around to watch television, we just sat around to watch television. Some things were for us and some things were not for us. Be it Saturday Morning Cartoons, AfterSchool Specials, Programs we enjoyed on PBS, Family Oriented Comedies and Variety Shows, or Holiday Specials, it seemed like we kind of just knew what we were supposed to be watching or were told by our parents what we shouldn't and couldn't watch.
Today everything is getting so specific to each age group it's actually amazing to behold. Are their upsides and downsides to doing this?
As far as the new channel's content is concerned, I can understand why Disney jumped on this opportunity and are doing it, as in, providing content geared towards an untapped market that usually has to channel surf to find all of that they want or are into.
A channel geared towards boys of a certain age who are under served in regular children's programming is of no problem to me, but the heavy advertising content and the way the advertisers are marketing their products so heavily I know we will see on that channel is the point I am concerned about.
Can we have one without the other? Can we have one with the other but in a way that is still responsible? (Ex:" Buy Yours Today! Kids, Get your parents permission first." - commercial fades to black) What are your thoughts on it?
~LT
Article:
MEDIA
Disney to target boys with rebranded cable channel
The entertainment giant plans to relaunch Toon Disney as Disney XD, which will be aimed at boys ages 6 to 14.
By Dawn C. Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 7, 2008
Someday, Disney hopes its princes will come.
The entertainment giant, which has made billions catering to the princess fantasies of young girls, plans to relaunch Toon Disney as Disney XD, a cable channel that will target boys. The move, under wraps for more than a year, is an attempt by the company to capture a market that has long eluded it.
Starting in February, Disney XD will seek to become to young dudes what Disney Channel, with its lineup of tweeny bopper programs such as "High School Musical," "Hannah Montana" and "Camp Rock" is to girls. Disney XD, aiming at boys ages 6 to 14, will offer original action-adventure and comedy series, movies, animation and sports-themed shows developed with Walt Disney Co.-owned ESPN.
"What was clear to me, and clear to us, is we had a huge opportunity to create content that were boys' favorites," said Rich Ross, president of Disney Channels Worldwide.
Tween boys, ages 9 to 14, account for about $50 billion in spending worldwide, said Greg Kahn, senior vice president of strategic insights for media buying firm Optimedia International USA Inc. Advertisers are eager to reach these young consumers, not just snag a portion of their disposable income, but to build a loyalty they hope will extend into even more free-spending teen years, he said.
Full article: www.latimes.com
Disney XD: disney.go.com
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