Child video gamers exposed to 52 mins of junk food ads per hour
CHILDREN watching video games on streaming platforms are being exposed to junk food marketing for 52 minutes in every hour, research shows.
Sites are bombarding young viewers with sugary drinks and fatty snacks, convincing them to consume more.
Seven in ten of the products being promoted contained unhealthy amounts of sugar, salt or fat. The marketing convinced children to plump for particular products.
Researchers warned that the sites were likely to be fuelling the obesity epidemic. Four in ten teenagers in England are now obese by the age of 15, compared with three in ten in 1995. The study found young gamers consumed more calories after exposure to the games, which were streamed via the website Twitch.
Watching live-streamed games on sites like Twitch, YouTube and Facebook is hugely popular, with 58 per cent of children tuning in.
Twitch has the vast majority of market share globally. Gaming fans watch others play in real time and to chat online, with top influencers and competitions drawing audiences of millions.
Health experts said many parents are unaware of the sites. There is little regulation of the sector, despite repeated pledges to protect children from aggressive marketing of unhealthy fare. Study author Dr Rebecca Evans, from the University of Liverpool, said: “Endorsement deals on Twitch can be worth many millions. Younger people are more attractive to advertisers and they are moving from television to more interactive forms of entertainment.”
The research, presented at the European Congress on Obesity, studied 52 hours of Twitch footage and tested the effects of advertising on 490 under-18s.
It found they were exposed to 2.6 advertisements or product placements per hour, with each lasting 20 minutes and some overlapping. These often involved seeing a product or logo on the screen for a long time, or looping images. Children had a more positive opinion of a certain snack or brand if they had seen it, and were twice as likely to choose it from a selection.
Over the long term, youngsters who spent more time watching the game streams tended to eat more of the snacks seen on screen. The most commonly marketed products were energy drinks, which are banned for under-16s because they can damage health.
Dr Duane Mellor, from the British Dietetic Association, said: “This is very hard for parents to stop. Most of the things being advertised are clearly not essential in the diet but they are aspirational.
“Advertisers are targeting young people because they will pester their parents and if you get them into your product you’ve got a consumer for life.
“These adverts are really effective so we need a team effort between government and industry to break the chain and hijack advertising to promote healthier behaviour.”
The Government has promised to ban junk food advertising to children, both online and on television, but the restrictions are now not due until Oct 2025.
Dr Helen Stewart, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “We now have epidemic levels of child obesity and we are storing up huge problems for children and young people.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government has a proven track record of tackling childhood obesity. We are taking further action next year by implementing restrictions on the advertising of less healthy products, including in-game advertising.”