Digital giants top Gen Alpha’s list of coolest brands

YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon are Gen Alpha’s coolest brands, per an August 2024 report by Beano Brain that surveyed more than 55,000 kids under 14. To foster relationships with the generation that not only has growing spending power of its own, but also influences parent purchases, marketers will have to understand its evolving digital habits.

1. YouTube

YouTube has earned the top spot again, with nearly three-quarters (72%) of US children aged 7 to 14 agreeing that it’s a cool brand, the report found.

• This year, 28.6 million US children aged 11 and under will watch YouTube at least once per month, according to our February 2024 forecast.
• Nearly all (97.3%) US digital video viewers aged 11 and under will watch YouTube.
• US children under 11 are over 10 times more likely to use YouTube than TikTok monthly.

Our take: YouTube’s breadth of long- and short-form videos that appeal to children is giving streaming video providers—many of which have cut back on kids’ programming—a run for their money. The Disney Channel, for example, is losing its grip on young audiences, and has seen primetime viewership drop from nearly 2 million daily in 2014 to 132,000 in 2023, as reported by Variety.

Meanwhile, many of YouTube’s highest-subscribed channels create kid-friendly content, including MrBeast (312 million) and Cocomelon (181 million subscribers), creating a positive environment for ad recall. More than half (51%) of US children remember seeing commercials on YouTube, per an October 2023 survey by Precise TV.

2. Netflix

Sixty-three percent of US children aged 11 to 14 say Netflix is a cool brand, in addition to 60% of children aged 7 to 10. Netflix, along with YouTube, are part of the 8% of entertainment brands on the overall ranking of 100 coolest brands.

• Netflix will have 18.1 million viewers aged 11 and under in the US, per our February 2024 forecast.
• That accounts for more than a third (36.6%) of the age group overall.

Our take: Although an increasing number of US children aged 2 to 12 prefer YouTube (excluding YouTube Shorts) over subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services such as Netflix, the two are neck and neck in time spent, according to a July 2024 report by Precise TV. Seventy-six percent of the age group spends more than an hour per day watching video-on-demand services, including SVOD, compared with 74% who spend the same amount of time on YouTube, the same report found. Time spent with YouTube excludes time with YouTube Shorts, where 61% of kids spend more than an hour per day.

Netflix and other major SVOD platforms separate themselves from YouTube by offering more original or exclusive long-form content that can capture longer stretches of attention. For example, despite Cocomelon getting its start on YouTube, its special spin-offs are offered on Netflix. Cocomelon is now one of the most popular kids’ shows on Netflix, having been watched more than 200 million times in H2 2023, according to the streamer.

3. Amazon

Sixty-eight percent of US girls say Amazon is a cool brand, along with 59% of boys.

• Children worldwide aged 9 to 13 are more likely than adults to have access to laptops and tablets, per December 2023 data by Razorfish and GWI.
• US children aged 11 and under hold the largest share of tablet usage, amounting to 28.9 million kids this year, according to our February 2024 forecast.
• This access to tech makes it easier for children to shop the same retail websites and apps that their millennial parents do.

Our take: Kids’ love of Amazon could be a result of their parents’ love of it. As digital natives, Gen Alpha and Gen Z have grown up with accelerated brand familiarity, fueling trends such as “Sephora kids.” This early affinity to adult brands may also be why several of the top 25 coolest brands aren’t directly geared toward children, including Amazon, Nike, and Target.

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