By Lena Juhl Seidelin, Martin Kofoed Hansen and Louise Haugstrup Jensen
A new study by the Danish Film Institute reveals for the first time children’s consumption and perception of feature films and fiction TV series, both at the cinema and at home.
The aim of the study is to provide insight into children's viewing habits and expectations for films and TV series – compared with gaming, social media and the like. The study also shows what motivates 7-14-year-olds to go to the cinema or watch films and series at home, the experiences they expect to have and what they think about Danish fiction in general.
The study presents these 10 insights:
1. Children watch films at least as often as adults do, similar to young adults.
2. Cinemagoing is a high priority. Almost half of the children go to the cinema at least once every quarter.
3. Children are big consumers of fiction TV series, watching them much more often than adults do.
4. Children use the same streaming services as adults.
5. Children watch films with others, but tend to watch series by themselves.
6. Children most often use a TV screen to watch films and series, but as they grow older and acquire more devices, they spread out their viewing.
7. Children are mainly driven by entertainment and less so by fiction that invites reflection.
8. Children orient themselves broadly at several genres, and their attitude to Danish fiction changes as they grow older.
9. YouTube is huge with children, but they don’t use it to watch fiction films and series.
10. For one quarter of the children, it’s not either/or: they are ultra-frequent users of both films and series as well as gaming.
The youthful respondents were also asked what features and series they have seen out of a pool of around 60 features and 40 series.
Accordingly, the study offers insight into the popularity of Danish features across cinemas, streaming and TV, as well as the popularity of Danish and international series across TV, the Web and international streaming services, like Netflix and HBO, where access to audience data is traditionally lacking.