Lying between playing in the sandbox and perusing the mall exist a commonly overlooked youth segment known as tweens (ages 9 – 12). Tweens are unique in their strong brand loyalty, lower price-sensitivity, importance of family and high value of ”fitting in” with peer groups.
Gender also plays a significant role in tween preference and recognition. While there are properties that garner broad appeal, most top ranked characters differ from boys to girls. Looking at tween aged boys and girls we wanted to know how gender plays a role when picking favorites.
Using E-Score Character Kids we looked at both girls and boys ages 9 -12 favorite characters. The difference in appeal is stark as there are zero characters appearing in both boys and girls top 15 most appealing characters.
iCarly topped the list for girls with a like a lot score of 75% while not even appearing in the boys top 5 favorite characters list. Also in the girls top 5 is Alex Russo (Wizards of Waverly Place) and Alvin and the Chipmunks, neither appearing in boys top 5. Phineas and Ferb topped the list for boys with a 66% like a lot score, followed with Iron Man and Dug (Up), all not appearing in the top 5 for girls.
E-Score Character Kids not only allows you to look at specific sub groups of hard to reach ages but examine how gender plays a considerable role in character appeal.