Nov 9, 2005 6:12 AM, By Patricia Odell

If you're looking for kids eight to 15 years old, you better check the Internet. The Internet is now the main communication channel for kids in that age group, and 54% of them predict that in five years they will be spending more time online than playing sports.

"This is not a fad and it is not going away," Jorian Clarke, CEO of Circle 1 Network said Monday during a panel discussion on kids and the Internet. "This is the digital medium of this age."

Households with Internet access now represent 75% of the U.S. population. Twenty-nine percent of kids ages eight to 15 are considered heavy users at 10-plus hours per week, 40% are medium users, spending five to 10 hours online per week and another 31% are considered light users at less than five hours per week. And as the number of households with broadband access increases, kids spend even more time online citing the speed and ease of using broadband service.

Seventy-five percent of these kids label themselves as "experienced users" and they are attracted to brands that use humor, involvement and honesty as cornerstones of their marketing practices. Some 57% have asked their parents to make purchases online and 39% have made a direct purchase, Clarke said. And kids say they are the "researcher" or "searcher" of non-kid products for the family.

Kids like the control they have online, whether it's chatting with friends, playing games or shopping, particularly because control is a factor they don't often have in their home lives. Having that control has prompted kids to predict that the Internet will be more popular than TV in five years.

The top online destination for kids in the eight to 15 age group are: Buddyprofile.com, Funkyjunk.com, CheatPlanet.com, Addictinggames.com and FunBrain.com.

Neopets is also a popular site: Kids get up to three pets to play with and can earn points to take care of their pets. The boys like to have pets fight other pets to see which is the strongest and girls like to shop for their pets, buying them homes and toys. Multiplayer Quest games, Real Time Chat and Key Pal are other popular sites.

The blogging phenomenon has also gripped this group and marketers enter the space to sell. But a successful blog takes hours and hours of work from dedicated resources, Clarke said. She cautioned that not everything that appears on a blog will be positive, and marketers have to be willing to live with that or forgo the tactic.

"It takes a lot of effort for a corporation to do a blog well," Clarke said.

As marketers know, kids also love their cell phones. Ownership is at an all time high, up 142% from 2001 for kids ages eight to 15.

"If you're a marketer trying to reach this group it is necessary to use online and wireless," Clarke said. "TV is not the best way. And you have to test with kids to make sure its cool with kids and not just the art director."

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