The development of children\u27s attention to television at home: The role of commercial content boundaries

Numerous studies have examined the development of children\u27s understanding of and attitudes towards commercials. Few, however, have investigated attentional responses while viewing advertising. One prior study specifically focused on this question. It found that attention to advertising declined with age, and that the difference between attention to ads and surrounding programs increased with age. A handful of laboratory studies, however, have observed higher attention to commercials by older children, and one study found that three-year-olds\u27 (but not older children\u27s) attention to commercials was elevated relative to programming. Thus, it is unclear how children\u27s attention to commercials varies with age. The current study videotaped 32 two- to twelve-year-old children viewing television at home. Equal numbers of children (half male, half female) aged 2, 5, 7-8, and 11-12 years from different families were observed for 8 to 10 days. The onset and offset of every look at the TV, the beginning and end of every program and advertising block, and the exact timing of every exit from the viewing room were coded. In addition, each broadcast segment was coded as intended for children or adults. Advertising comprised an average 15.8% of time with television and did not vary significantly as a function of age. Percent attention and the number of exits per hour of programming and commercials were compared. Visual attention to both advertising and programming content increased with age. In both cases the most dramatic increase was between 2 and 5 years of age. Contrary to anecdotal reports, toddlers were no ore interested in commercials than in program content. The percent attention and exiting results both indicated that interest in advertising relative to programming declines with age. The results also indicate that children begin to time their exits to occur during advertising before they begin depressing their attention to it. Finally, attention is first depressed within the context of child-oriented content