78% of gaming preteens also watch online gaming videos
Children ages 10-12 mainly watch to improve skills, watch entertaining content creators
Roughly 78% of gaming preteens ages 10 to 12 watch online gaming videos, along with around 67% of children ages seven to nine, according to a study from SuperData.
A survey of 1,000 US parents who had at least one child between the ages of seven and 12 that played games at least once a week found that those children would primarily watch gaming videos on YouTube or Twitch to improve their own skills, or because they enjoyed the personalities of the video creators.
Of all those surveyed, 33% played Roblox, 26% played Fortnite, and 24% played Minecraft. Tablet was the most popular device among the younger players (used by 55% of children ages seven to nine), though console was a close second with 54% of the same group using it. The older respondents ages 10 to 12 were more overwhelmingly interested in consoles (76%). PC was the least popular overall, with only 33% of children ages seven to nine and 28% of preteens ages ten to 12 reporting using it.
When asking parents how they gave their children money to spend on games, 35% said they would give store gift cards, 33% said cash through allowances, and 29% said cash through gifts. 23% said they linked a credit or debit card to a parental account in a game, and 17% said a card was linked to a child's game account. 20% did not give their child money for games.
Finally, parents were asked their views on gaming, which seemed to be largely positive. 87% agreed games could be educational, and 82% agreed they could inspire children to be creative. Over three-fourths felt it was easy to track games their children were playing, that there were enough age-appropriate games for children, that parental controls were easy to use, and that it was easy to prevent children from spending too much. A smaller percentage, 65%, felt games could improve children's social skills.
That said, 75% still were concerned about their child's safety when they played online, and over half said that their children spent too much time playing games.