The vast majority of clock.work’s influencer content aimed at Gen Alpha lives on YouTube, which is one of the only social media platforms “that’s relatively regulated for kids,” Moonves said. YouTube introduced a separate platform for child-safe content specifically called YouTube Kids in 2015, and creators can add a “made for kids” label to videos on the main YouTube platform, too. In compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), YouTube Kids cannot collect personal information from users and all ads are contextual rather than targeted.
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YouTube is the primary platform that Day One Agency leverages for Gen Alpha influencer partnerships because it’s by far the most popular social platform among Gen Alpha as a whole, Amend said. According to data from Morning Consult, over two-thirds (68%) of Gen Alpha uses YouTube, and a study from youth culture agency Archrival found that 57% of children under 2 years old and 81% of children aged 3 or 4 watch YouTube videos. Both Amend and Moonves said YouTube Shorts, the platform’s TikTok clone, is also increasingly popular with Gen Alpha consumers and is another powerful medium for work with Gen Alpha influencers.
“If you’re an advertiser looking to reach kids, families or even a head of household, you have to be advertising on YouTube now,” Moonves said. “It’s the largest streaming platform for kids, and this is where the most audience is.”
Because social media is where Gen Alpha is spending large swaths of time—often consuming videos from creators who are their age—it doesn’t make sense for advertisers to “shy away” from engaging with young consumers in that space, SuperAwesome’s Goldstein said, because “there are safe ways to do so.” Plus, being one of a Gen Alpha’s creator’s first brand partners can help build brand awareness among their audience that can extend into their teenage years or even adulthood, Amend added.
“We already know the benefits of long-term partnerships for all types of creators, but there’s something especially exciting about partnering with a Gen Alpha creator who's early in their career,” she said. "We’ve found that a lot of times audiences who are really loyal to a creator will remember the creator's first few brand partnerships—so if you’re doing it in a meaningful way, there's a likelihood that you’ll see long-term benefits.”