Worried your kid is spending too much time in front of the computer? Blame it on websites like CartoonNetwork.com, Disney.go.com, ArchieComics.com and NickJr.com, which are attracting kids with a host of interactive games and shows. The percentage of children having access to Internet increased to a phenomenal 93% in 2006 in contrast to 56% in late 2003.

With the websites becoming more user-friendly and interactive, Internet is grabbing pre-teen eyeballs at a rapid pace, placing television and radio in the back burner. 67% of teens are avid users of the Internet. The graph below gives details of Internet usage of tweens. Tweens and young teens aged between 8 and 14 on an average spend 1.5 to 2 hours daily surfing the Internet and make up 60% of the Internet users, aged less than 18.

The graph below shows the expected growth in Internet usage among the pre-teens. 

Internet usage pattern of pre-teens is different and it changes dramatically as they grow up. Kids are attracted to websites dealing with race cars, music, education, comedy, sports, news and movie stars and sites like MTV.com, Nascar.com, Hollywood.com, Comedycentral.com and Sportsline.com are popular among them. Apart from the children’s websites, the pre-teens are also influenced by the surfing of their parents and elders.

Research shows that after school hours, around 3 pm - 4 pm in the evening, 89% of the children are drowned in their computers. The pre-teens are mainly attracted to websites like NeoPets.com, ArchieComics.com, NickJr.com and CartoonNetwork.com where they can watch and interact with cartoon characters, play computer games, vehicle racing, board games, puzzles, play sets, action figures, participate in online quizzes, drawing and win prizes and watch television episodes that are missed out during school hours.

Below is a list of the popular websites among the pre-teens and their Alexa rankings: 

According to a research conducted by Media Metrix, “kids prefer websites which are popular amongst older users like Yahoo.com, AOL.com, Wikipedia.com, Geocities.com and Google.com. They visit a wide range of websites, from education to entertainment to news, which clearly shows that there is an opportunity for those trying to reach out to the young audience.”

Popular sites visited by the kids include music sites [55%], e-card sites [25%], animal sites [35%], sites on books [20%], sites on TV channels/films and cartoons [25%], sites on mobile phones [19%].

Below is a list of the online activities of the pre-teens by eMarketer.

The full report on Pre-Teens is on Sramana Mitra's website. Sramana Mitra is an Entrepreneur, Founder CEO of 3 companies, Strategy Consultant to 50+ companies, and Author of a popular technology business blog, Sramana Mitra on Strategy.