Young Children's (Aged 3 to 8 Years) Food and Beverage Brand Exposure on YouTube and YouTube Kids: An Observational Study and Content Analysis

Abstract

Background: Children's exposure to digital food marketing influences their preferences and consumption of unhealthy products. Young children increasingly spend time viewing YouTube videos on mobile devices, where food brands are promoted in popular children's content. Research is needed to document young children's exposure to branded food messages on YouTube. Objective: To explore and categorize young children's (aged 3 to 8 years) food brand exposure while viewing YouTube videos. Design: Observational study and content analysis of brand exposures and videos viewed. Participants/setting: Convenience sample of US parent-child dyads participating at home via Zoom, including 101 children (n = 53: 3 to 5 years; n = 48: 6 to 8 years) who regularly watch YouTube videos. Data were collected from June through October 2022. Main outcome measures: Percentage of children exposed to food brands during 30 minutes of viewing YouTube videos on their mobile devices and mean number of exposures by type (appearances in videos, in thumbnails, and traditional ads). Statistical analyses: Differences by child age and YouTube platform, including percent exposed to food brands (χ2 tests) and mean number of food brand exposures (t tests). Results: Most children aged 6 to 8 years (75%) and 36% of children aged 3 to 5 years were exposed to branded food content while watching videos, with significantly higher exposures for slightly older children (mean ± SD = 8.7 ± 8.2 [6 to 8 years] vs 4.1 ± 6.0 [3 to 5 years]) and YouTube vs YouTube Kids viewers (mean ± SD = 7.7 ± 8.2 vs 3.8 ± 3.2). The majority of exposures (61%) were branded foods embedded within videos, followed by thumbnails (23%) and ads (17%). Candy, sugar-sweetened drinks, fast food, and sweet or salty snacks represented 74% of exposures, and lifestyle videos (including influencers) contributed 77% of exposures within videos. No videos embedded with branded foods disclosed food company-sponsored content. Conclusions: Most young children were exposed to unhealthy food brands while viewing YouTube videos, primarily brand appearances embedded within video content that blurred food promotion with entertainment. Additional policies are needed to protect children from unhealthy food marketing in digital media that they commonly view.