Children as content creators on YouTube and Instagram. Analysis of the formats used, parental presence and brand presence

Abstract

The findings of a project aimed at exploring how kidfluencers (influencers under 15) create content which is uploaded on YouTube and Instagram, and how branded content is integrated into videos are presented in this article. Twelve active and highly followed profiles of Spanish speaking kidfluencers were analyzed to explore how brand presence is incorporated into audiovisual formats, what information is provided and how storytelling and creativity are used to connect with their audience. Along with self-promotional content, brands play a relevant role, particularly those presented through games. Scripting is detected and used to make content more attractive. However, despite post-production being evident, branded content includes linguistic errors, opinions and comments that reveal that videos are created by kids. Notably, the videos themselves and their titles fail to signal their commercial content on both of the studied social networks.