Entertainment or advertising? YouTube channels displaying content created by kids
Résumé
he content that children watch is increasingly fragmented, and the constant emergence of new social networks and devices accentuates this phenomenon. Within this ecosystem, companies have implemented new strategies to reach young audiences and brands develop 360-degree marketing strategies that integrate both offline and online campaigns. Creating entertaining content through videos allows brands to achieve a child friendlier presence and closer connection to the audiences, thus creating an affinity to the brand that would not otherwise be possible (Large, 2014). Influencers participate in these modalities, enhancing a branded communication that flows from the influencers’ YouTube channels, through television shows and ends in real life with commercial events in retail outlets. Influencers are recognized experts in connecting with their young audiences in a more credible way than classical advertising campaigns, since the content they produce seems less branded and more authentic to their followers.