Increase in Internet Use for Multimedia Activities Among Children and Adolescents
The TIC Kids Online Brazil 2018 survey also investigates the use of social networks and the most utilized platforms
The TIC Kids Online Brazil 2018 survey indicates that 83% of children and adolescent Internet users watch videos, programs, movies, or series online. The study reveals a growth in the use of the Internet by young people for multimedia activities, surpassing the use for sending instant messages (77%). Released on Tuesday (17) by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) through the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) at the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br), TIC Kids Online Brazil also highlights that 82% of children and adolescent Internet users listen to music online; 60% play games on the Internet without connecting with other players, and 55% play connected with other players.
In the context of educational purposes, 74% of connected children and adolescents research online for school work, 63% do research out of curiosity or personal interest, and 53% read or watch news online.
Connectivity and Usage Dynamics
In its seventh edition, the survey points out that 86% of Brazilian children and adolescents aged 9 to 17 are Internet users, equivalent to 24.3 million connected individuals. The survey also reveals that there are still inequalities in access and use of the web by this audience, in comparison to urban areas (90%) and rural areas (68%), and between children and adolescents from classes AB (98%) and class DE (73%). TIC Kids Online Brazil estimates that approximately 3.8 million children and adolescents aged 9 to 17 lacked Internet access in 2018. Among the reasons, the most cited was the lack of network access at home (8%), followed by the inability to use the Internet at school (5%).
The proportion of Internet users aged 9 to 17 who access the network via mobile phones remains stable at 93%, equating to 22.7 million individuals. The proportion of those whose Internet access is exclusively through mobile phones is growing: the survey shows that for 53% of investigated users, the cell phone is the only device used to access the Internet. In class DE, this proportion was 71%.
“The use of the Internet exclusively by cell phone is a phenomenon observed in approximately two-thirds of Internet-using children and adolescents from class DE. It is important to note, however, that exclusive cell phone use has also increased among young people from higher classes (from 15% to 26%) and from urban areas (from 43% to 52%), indicating that this issue is not solely about access to multiple devices but a choice for a significant part of children and adolescents,” highlights Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br.
In contrast to mobile phones, television access increased in 2018 (32%), following an upward trend observed since 2014 when only 5% of connected children and adolescents used this device to access the Internet. This same trend has been observed by the TIC Domicílios 2018 survey: in 2014, only 7% of Internet users aged 10 years or older used television to access the web; this proportion rose to 30% in 2018.
Online Social Networks
According to TIC Kids Online Brazil, 82% of Internet-using children and adolescents (aged 9 to 17) have profiles on social networks, with the age group most present in these platforms being adolescents aged 15 to 17 years (97%). Among those with social media profiles, WhatsApp was the most mentioned platform (72%), surpassing for the first time in the survey's historical series, the number of those who declare having Facebook profiles (66%). Instagram also showed growth and is now the third-largest platform by number of profiles (45%) – in 2013, it was only 16%. Among children aged 9 and 10, 58% have social media profiles: 46% on WhatsApp, 23% on Facebook, and 14% on Instagram.
Consumption and Marketing Content
The percentage of Internet-using children and adolescents aged 11 to 17 who stated they had seen ads or advertisements decreased on almost all analyzed platforms compared to 2016. In 2018, 64% mentioned having contact with advertisements on television – a decrease of 16 percentage points compared to 2016 (80%), standing at the same level as video sites (67%).
In relation to children and adolescents aged 11 to 17 exposed to the marketing of products or brands on the Internet (74%), the main content involves people teaching how to use a product (55%), unboxing a product (49%), and showing products that a brand has already provided them (48%). Division by areas and social classes shows greater exposure among Internet-using children and adolescents in urban areas (77%) than in rural areas (55%), among young people aged 15 to 17 (78%), and among those from class AB (87%).
“In the digital environment, marketing communication takes on a new profile. In many cases, unlike traditional media, there is no reserved space and specific timing for this purpose, which reinforces the need to understand how children interpret and react to the marketing of products and services they are exposed to. The data highlights the importance of this type of investigation and the mediation of technology use by parents and/or guardians and also by educators,” emphasizes Barbosa.
About the Survey
In its seventh edition, the TIC Kids Online Brazil survey interviewed 2,964 children and adolescents aged 9 to 17, as well as their parents or guardians, across the national territory. The interviews took place between October 2018 and March 2019, aiming to understand how this audience uses the Internet and how they deal with the risks and opportunities arising from its use. TIC Kids Online Brazil remains aligned with the methodological framework of the European EU Kids Online network, led by the London School of Economics and the Global Kids Online project, coordinated by Unicef.
Cetic.br provides the microdata from the 7th edition of the survey for download, in addition to complete tables of proportions, totals, and respective margins of error. Download relevant documents and survey microdata at: https://cetic.br/pesquisa/kids-online/microdados.
About Cetic.br
The Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society, under NIC.br, is responsible for producing indicators and statistics on the availability and use of the Internet in Brazil, disseminating periodic analyses and information on the development of the web in the country. Cetic.br is a Regional Study Center, under the auspices of UNESCO. More information at https://www.cetic.br/.
About the Brazilian Network Information Center – NIC.br
The Brazilian Network Information Center – NIC.br (https://www.nic.br/) is a private, non-profit civil entity that, besides implementing the decisions and projects of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, has among its duties: coordinating the domain name registration – Registro.br (https://www.registro.br/), studying, responding to, and managing security incidents in Brazil – CERT.br (https://www.cert.br/), studying and researching network technologies and operations – Ceptro.br (https://www.ceptro.br/), producing Indicators on Information and Communication Technologies – Cetic.br (https://www.cetic.br/), implementing and operating Internet Exchange Points – IX.br (https://ix.br/), enabling the Brazilian community's participation in the global development of the Web and informing the formulation of public policies – Ceweb.br (https://www.ceweb.br), and hosting the W3C office in Brazil (https://www.w3c.br/).
About the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee – CGI.br
The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee is responsible for establishing strategic guidelines related to the use and development of the Internet in Brazil, coordinating and integrating all Internet service initiatives in the country, promoting technical quality, innovation, and dissemination of offered services. Based on the principles of multi-stakeholderism and transparency, the CGI.br represents a democratic Internet governance model, internationally praised, where all sectors of society participate equally in its decisions. One of its formulations is the 10 Principles for Internet Governance and Use (https://www.cgi.br/principios). More information at https://www.cgi.br/.
Press Contacts:
Weber Shandwick
https://www.webershandwick.com.br/
PABX: (11) 3027-0200 / 3531-4950
Carolina Boccardo - cboccardo@webershandwick.com - (11) 3531-4968
Ana Jones - ana.jones@webershandwick.com - (11) 3027-0200 ext: 312
Communication Advisory – NIC.br
Caroline D’Avo – Communication Manager – caroline@nic.br
Carolina Carvalho – Communication Coordinator – carolcarvalho@nic.br
Soraia Marino – Communication Assistant – soraia@nic.br
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/comuNICbr/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nicbrvideos
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nic.br
Telegram: www.telegram.me/nicbr
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nic-br/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicbr/
This content was automatically translated with the support of artificial intelligence.
Cetic.br and Unesco
In 2012, Cetic.br became a UNESCO Category 2 Center, the first of its kind dedicated to the development of information and knowledge societies. The Center is linked to the Communication and Information (CI) Sector, one of UNESCO’s five areas of work. It contributes to achieving the organization’s strategic objectives by strengthening its efforts to monitor the building of information and knowledge societies. Cetic.br’s scope of action includes Latin America and the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa.
Learn about our work