Holiday shopping for kids: Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend

Television chomped the lion's share of adspend in this context.

A whopping 94.1% of Q4 adspend in this sector was done on television, with its nearest rival – magazines – receiving a mere 2.6%. This category includes dolls, stuffed animals (including accessories), board and card games, hobby kits, hand crafts, fabric, yarn, notions, video games (and accessories) and, of course, toys.

Christmas is for kids – toys, games, crafts
Period Q4-Total Spending

(October-December)
Class
2003 2004 2005 2006
  ($) ($) ($) ($)
TOTAL 31,668,463 36,420,325 39,715,918 38,047,965

Period Q4-Total by Medium

(October-December) 2006
  ($) (%)
Daily Newspaper 285,360 0.8%
Magazine 987,290 2.6%
Out of Home 732,585 1.9%
Radio (Toronto/Vancouver focus) 247,194 0.6%
Total TV 35,795,536 94.1%
Total Media 38,047,965 100.0%

Christmas is for kids – toys, games, crafts
Top Five Spenders – Period Q4 2006

(October-December) Total Media
Class Company Brands ($)
VIDEO GAMES & ACCESSORIES MICROSOFT CORPORATION MICROSOFT XBOX 360 VIDEO GAMES 1
GAMES: BOARD & CARD HASBRO INC TRIVIAL PURSUIT GAMES 2
VIDEO GAMES & ACCESSORIES SONY CORPORATION SONY PLAYSTATION 3 VIDEO GAME SYSTEM 3
DOLLS & STUFFED ANIMALS (INCLUDING ACCESSORIES) HASBRO INC PLAYSKOOL TJ BEARYTALES BEAR 4
DOLLS & STUFFED ANIMALS (INCLUDING ACCESSORIES) MATTEL INC MATTEL BARBIE DOLLS & ACCESSORIES 5

Source: The Nielsen Company, Nielsen Media Research