Understanding Why Kids Were Leaving and How to Win Them Back
Children's online viewing was growing fast. YouTube was capturing attention. Streaming was becoming habitual. In that environment, the Nick app was stagnating.
Downloads had plateaued. Usage was inconsistent. Nobody had a clear picture of how the 6 to 13 year old audience actually consumed media, what drove them to one platform over another, or where Nick was losing them.
Two things needed to be understood in parallel: why existing users were not returning, and why potential users were not arriving.
The research combined ethnographic, quantitative, and workshop-based methods, each stage building on the last.
Diary studies and in-home interviews captured actual media behaviour rather than recalled behaviour; What children said they watched and what they actually watched were different.
Interviews ran in two formats: younger children with a parent, older children in friendship pairs, which produced far more authentic accounts.
Findings were synthesised into personas and presented to a cross-functional team spanning Product, Marketing, Content, and Executive Management.
A Discovery Workshop translated findings into prioritised problems.
A nationally representative survey mapped user journeys across devices and platforms.
A Solutions Workshop converted everything into specified actions.
App performance was the primary retention issue. Error rates were high, crashes frequent, users giving up. An executive decision was made to accelerate server migration. A content naming error was identified and corrected. A "continue watching" feature was scoped.
On acquisition, the survey pinpointed the platforms and apps where the target audience spent their time. Marketing strategy was reoriented accordingly.
New content formats were proposed for production.
The result was an increase in app user engagement and return visits, and an increase in new app users through better-targeted marketing.
Furthermore, the insights also underpinned the negotiation and placement of Nick content on Magenta TV, informing the commercial case for the partnership.
