Audiovisual content with advertising intention in children's videos on YouTube: the case of the Soy Luna series

Abstract

Advertising on the web has taken new forms (Malin, 2011; Susarla, Oh & Tan, 2012). In this context, videos which appear playful but which have an advertising objective, have positioned themselves as the new trend (Craig & Duncan, 2017; Marsh, 2015) and have penetrated the web space for an increasing number of Internet users, particularly among children (Davies, Coleman & Livingstone, 2014). However, the type and variety of videos with advertising intention that YouTube leads users to when searching for generic audiovisual content for children's audience is unclear. This paper uses a mixed methods approach to analyze the content and visuals present in undercover advertising videos from a sample of 143 videos prompted by the keywords Soy Luna, a popular Disney Channel series. The main findings are that three types of sources provide this type of content, namely official channels, YouTubers channels devoting space to the series and its merchandising, and to a greater extent toy exhibition channels. Also, the format appearance and characteristics of the videos make it difficult for users to tell them apart from advertising, as they introduce a novel narrative, incorporate playful twists and appear to be associated to the series. These features go beyond the use of YouTube standardized advertising formats, such as graphic ads, overlays or advertising spots which can be skipped.

The Relationship of Chilean Minors with Brands and Influencers on Social Networks

“…Given that influencers generate interest and are followed through social media, this leads brands to want to count them in when implementing new ways of advertising [39]. Now, faced with this phenomenon, it is worth asking about the ability minors have to identify the persuasive intentionality of the messages they receive from the influencers they follow on social networks, that is, their level of advertising literacy [40] especially in the face of content that increasingly mixes advertising and entertainment [41,42]. Previous studies have researched the recognition of advertising on social networks by minors and have concluded that these generally identify standard formats as advertising, but more camouflaged commercial messages are not considered as such (unboxing or recommendations from YouTubers and Instagrammers) [43].…”

Niños y niñas influyentes en YouTube e Instagram: contenidos y presencia de marcas durante el confinamiento

“…los contenidos Publicitarios en redes sociales Los contenidos de marca que aparecen prescritos por los kid influencers en sus canales, sin aviso de publicidad, es uno de los aspectos más inquietantes en los que respecta a YouTube (Tur-Viñes et al, 2019;Feijoo & Pavez, 2019). Es necesario promover una regulación eficaz que permita diferenciar los contenidos comerciales del resto (IAB Spain, 2019).…”

“…Los riesgos derivan de la dificultad de las personas de menor edad para identificar la intención publicitaria, la inexistencia de advertencias por una regulación imprecisa, y la percepción de credibilidad otorgada a los comerciales del youtuber (Tur-Viñes et al, 2018;Feijoo & Pavez, 2019). Niños y niñas influyentes en YouTube e Instagram metodología Esta investigación analizó el tipo de contenidos publicado, la presencia de marcas y las técnicas publicitarias empleadas en los videos, y su posible asociación con la temática del confinamiento o del Covid19, de trece niños y niñas influyentes, menores de 14 años y de habla española, en sus canales de YouTube e Instagram durante el primer periodo de confinamiento en España (14 de marzo al 26 de abril de 2020).…”

“…Se consideró contenido comercial toda marca identificada en el contenido catalogada o no como promoción (Feijoo & Pavez, 2019;Feijoo & García, 2020), independientemente de la relación contractual previa entre el youtuber y dicha marca. • Sí, pero poco visible o ambiguo (prácticas que restan visibilidad y comprensión, como solo colocar el hashtag al final, mezclarlo con otros, uso de referencias o abreviaturas ambiguas como "Embajador", "Socio", "Empresa X", "#Publi" o "#Ad".)…”

“…Tabla 1. Ficha de análisis empleada Fuente: Elaboración propia con base en Smith et al, 2012, Ramos-Serrano & Herrero-Diz, 2016, Tur-Viñes et al, 2018, Tur-Viñes et al, 2019Feijoo & Pavez, 2019. resultados Actividad registrada durante el confinamiento Los 13 perfiles de niños y niñas influencers publicaron en ambas redes sociales, menos Jugando con Aby (que actualizó su cuenta de YouTube) y Juega con Adri (activo solo en Instagram).…”