12 August 2003
Kids and Newspapers
Newspaper reading becomes increasingly important as children move through primary school. Kids as young as 6 years of age are reading the paper for school (10%) and by 9 years of age about 1 in 5 children are reading the paper for school and/or homework. Reading for homework peaks at about 11 years of age with just under 30% of kids reading for school. Once they reach high school, reading for homework drops considerably, back to 12% of kids. However children choosing to read their parents' newspaper compensates for this. By 13 years of age more than three-quarters of children sometimes read their parents' paper. Teenage boys are more likely to read than girls, particularly for the sports content. Reading progresses steadily with age, driven by having to read for school as well as by a developing interest in the world around them. As the table below demonstrates, reading of newspapers really develops at about 9 years of age with approximately 60% of children reading either their parents' paper and/or reading for school. By the time they reach their teens, 4 out of 5 kids are at least sometimes reading a newspaper.
| Age
Group | Read
Newspaper* |
| 7 year olds |
20% |
| 9 year olds | 63% |
| 11 year olds | 77% |
| 13 year olds | 82% |
* Net percentage reading either parents' newspaper or reading for school/homework.
By 6-7 years of age 78% of boys are reading the sports section and 48% 'usually read' the comics while girls are already reading the TV guide (74%) as well as the comics (52%).
By 8-9 boys have also started reading the TV guide (70%) and many are also reading the news section "if a story is interesting" (68%).
By 10 girls are occasionally reading news stories (75%) and in fact they are more likely than boys to read this section by this age. Girls also start to read the Stars at about 10 years of age (48%), which the boys never really get interested in. On the other hand, boys are starting to read the weather page (54%), which holds little interest for the girls.
By about 12, sports readership is very popular with the vast majority of boys reading these sections (77%) and about half of the girls (57%) in this age group reading at least sometimes.
| How This Research Was Conducted This topic was included in the ongoing Australian Kids Consumer Insights research program conducted by McNair Ingenuity Research in May 2003. The survey was conducted by means of a combination telephone interview and self-completion survey amongst 300 kids across Australia. The above information is copyright to McNair Ingenuity Research and must be clearly acknowledged to Ingenuity Research. For more information contact Matt Balogh ph 02 9966 9133. You
can learn more about McNair Ingenuity Research by visiting www.mcnairingenuity.com |
 |
McNair Ingenuity Research Pty Ltd ACN.
096 437 991 Level 4, 270 Pacific Highway, Crows Nest, NSW, 2065 Phone: +61 2 9966
9133 Fax: +61 2 9966 9277 www.mcnairingenuity.com |