Food and Beverage Placement in Child Focused YouTube Channels: A Content Analysis Study

BACKGROUND: High exposure to food content encourages unhealthy dietary practices among children. Nowadays, children are exposed to many food products through social media, which influence their eating behaviors. Due to the growing social media use, the number of food advertisements via YouTube has increased. Therefore, regulatory agencies worldwide are investigating social media content to implement appropriate restrictions on unhealthy food marketing. METHODS: This quantitative content analysis descriptive study aimed to analyze all food content in the child-centric channels of Arabic speakers’ vloggers on YouTube in Saudi Arabia. The authors measured the food presentation, promotional techniques, and food product/type by quantifying the appearances of each variable in each video. The variables were analyzed as frequencies and percentages. RESULTS: Four of the top subscribed channels in Saudi Arabia were selected; 96 videos were analyzed by watching 17 hours. Food placements appeared in 65 videos (67.7%), with a cumulative duration of 304 minutes. Among videos that featured food and beverages, 87.7% of the vloggers consumed the food that appeared. The most commonly employed persuasive marketing techniques were emotional and taste appeals, with a percentage of 90%. Unhealthy foods comprised 66.8% of the total number of products that appeared in the analyzed videos. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the high prevalence of low-nutrient food products on child-centric YouTube channels in Saudi Arabia, which may negatively impact children's food choices and eating habits. To protect children from harmful content on social media, it is recommended to develop comprehensive policies that consider the different challenges of regulating media content. Parents and caregivers should also actively monitor children's social media use and educate them on making healthy food choices. KEY MESSAGES: • Children might get exposed to a high prevalence of unhealthy food products through social media, which might have a negative impact on their food preferences. • Comprehensive policies are needed to regulate food marketing on social media in order to protect children from harmful content and promote healthy eating habits.