by A recent study conducted by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has found that social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube, collectively generated nearly $11 billion in advertising revenue from users under the age of 18 in the United States in 2022. The study provides estimates of the number of young users on these platforms and how much of the annual ad revenue can be attributed to them.
With growing concerns about youth mental health, policymakers are increasingly looking to introduce legislation to regulate social media platform practices that may contribute to issues such as depression, anxiety, and disordered eating in young people. Senior author Bryn Austin, professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, states that social media platforms have yet to take meaningful steps to protect children, despite claiming that they can self-regulate their practices to minimize harm. The study suggests that the platforms have strong financial incentives to delay taking action.
To estimate the number of youth users and related ad revenue, the researchers used various public survey and market research data from 2021 and 2022. They utilized population data from the U.S. Census, as well as survey data from Common Sense Media and Pew Research, to estimate the number of individuals under the age of 18 using these platforms in the U.S. Additionally, data from market research company eMarketer and parental control app Qustodio provided projections of each platform’s gross ad revenue for 2022, along with the average minutes per day spent on each platform by users.
By incorporating these estimations into a simulation model, the researchers were able to estimate the ad revenue generated by the platforms from young U.S. users. The study revealed that YouTube had the highest number of users under the age of 18 in 2022, with 49.7 million in the U.S., followed by TikTok (18.9 million), Snapchat (18 million), Instagram (16.7 million), Facebook (9.9 million), and X (7 million). Collectively, these platforms generated approximately $11 billion in ad revenue from these users, with $2.1 billion from users aged 12 and under and $8.6 billion from users aged 13-17.
YouTube was found to derive the highest ad revenue from users aged 12 and under, amounting to $959.1 million. Instagram and Facebook followed with $801.1 million and $137.2 million, respectively. For users aged 13-17, Instagram generated the highest ad revenue at $4 billion, followed by TikTok ($2 billion) and YouTube ($1.2 billion). The study also revealed that Snapchat derived the highest percentage (41%) of its overall ad revenue in 2022 from users under the age of 18, followed by TikTok (35%), YouTube (27%), and Instagram (16%).
The researchers acknowledged some limitations of the study, including the reliance on estimations and projections from public survey and market research sources, as social media platforms do not disclose user age data or advertising revenue data by age group.
Lead author Amanda Raffoul, instructor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, emphasizes the need for greater data transparency, as well as public health interventions and governmental regulations, in response to the study’s findings that social media platforms generate significant advertising revenue from youth.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
