1

The main aim of this research was to gain a greater understanding of Tate Kids and its audience. We wanted to see
who the users were, how they got to Tate Kids and what they were doing once there. From here we can understand
how users experience the site, which will help to inform the future development of Tate Kids.

We used a mixed method approach combining quantitative and qualitative methods. This included:

 Analytics: Google analytics and heat maps

The Google analytics used in this research were measured from September 2013 – September 2014. The heat maps
were run throughout September 2014 on the homepage, Films, Games, My Gallery and Tate Create sections.

 Qualitative research: Fusion Research (external agency)

Fusion Research carried out 17 one to one interviews in October 2014, split between the UK and US with a wide age-
range of kids, 5-12 years. The main aim of this qualitative research was to develop a deeper understanding of Tate
Kids target audience expectations and needs, within an evolving digital landscape for the next stages of content and
product development.

 Desktop research: digital trends

There was also research into reports and publications about digital trends for children, which helped to understand
the current and future external context for Tate Kids.

2
The following infographic summarises the findings of the research showing key facts of Tate Kids users.

3
Volume of visits
From 1 September 2013 to 31 August 2014 there have been 385,135 visits to the Tate Kids website. 69% of Tate Kids
visitors to the site are new users to the website. Traffic goes down in the summer and during Christmas holidays.
There is a negative trend in the number of visits since 2012, which is mainly caused by a drop in organic (not paid
for) traffic from Google.

Location of users – UK vs International

45.8% of Tate Kids users are from the UK, of which 25.6% from London. Tate Kids has a substantial international
audience at 54.2%. The UK and US comprise the majority of visits and about two thirds of visits are among new or
first-time visitors.

User personas: ‘at school’ and ‘at home’

Children engage in online activities at home and at school – however, the majority of online time is spent at home
typically in the company or presence of a parent. Children use Tate Kids for educational purposes and to play games
both at home and in the classroom.

Traffic sources

Approximately 10%-20% of traffic comes from the main Tate website which suggests that Tate Kids is hugely
dependant on traffic from Google and other external referring sites that link to the site.

Branded vs non-branded search

Based on a sample of 62% of the total organic searches we can see that 52% of the traffic from search engines come
from non-branded searches and 48% from branded searches (branded meaning that includes the word Tate in the
search). The non-branded terms are in the sample 26K different keywords and some popular ones are: art games,
pop art for kids, graffiti games, colour magic...

Referrals
The top referrals are from TES (Times Educational Supplement) and other blogs and websites that highlight
individual games (such as Street Art on graffitibase.jimbo.com).

Device use

Most users access Tate Kids via desktop (73% in August 2014) with a growing number on tablet and mobile. Many of
the Tate Kids games are built in Flash which a lot of tablet and mobile devices do not support. The general trend on
Tate Kids shows an increase of tablet use, which reflects a larger digital trend. Children report using multiple devices
while online – although the majority report using their parents’ laptop or desktop.

Influencers

Kids have 3 main ‘influencers’ when it comes to directing their behaviour online.
 Parents: who act as the gatekeepers of which sites are visited and the amount of time spent online.
 Teachers: to find educational sites that many kids find fun primarily due to the integration of games and
learning.
 Friends: to find out what is cool, share content and to compare experiences & game results.

From the research and main motivations for kids going to Tate Kids are for fun, for a challenge, to learn, and to
socialise and share with friends (Fusion, 2014).

4
“I like that you can save stuff…and share and comment.” (Referencing My Gallery)
“I usually go to games first…I like Spin because it’s challenging.” (Referencing Games)
“That was pretty good to make you learn and explain [about the artist].” (Referencing Films).

Games

63% of total page views to the site are to the games. Street Art, Spin and Colour Colour are the most popular. After
the games the most popular pages are Tate Create and My Gallery.
For the majority of kids, Games was the first section they wanted to visit. Many found the art-related games unique
and not typical of other sites. It is important to note that children generally understood what the game levels meant
– but this did not appear to directly influence the game they selected or expressed interested in playing. Kids said
the Tate Kids games were fun, challenging and that they liked the sharing features that some of the games offered.
Children have many different motives for visiting Games from having fun to learning.

Other sections on Tate Kids

Homepage
Overall kids were positive about the site design, the top navigation and colours. However, the page fold prevents a
full view of all the site’s offerings. Kids tend to go to Games first, from the top navigation. The prominence of Inspire
Me drew kids there, even if uncertain about what it was. They did not scroll down for the secondary menu bar (with
captions) or to find E-cards or Change the Background. Few participants knew what e-cards were, but were excited
to be able to personalize the background, once discovered. Generally, kids found the site interesting, different
compared to other sites they used and found plenty of options of things to do.

Tate Create
For the kids who visited Tate Create first or on their own, they were intrigued by the name and thought it would
involve a creative activity. Many kids felt that they would visit this section as part of a school related activity. The
most visited Tate Creates are soap carving, the horse mask and the colouring book.

Films
After Games, in general, Films were the top section that the kids went to first. They expected to find art-related
short films and many expressed that they expected to find films that would show them how to make art. Many
children referred to this section as ‘videos’ instead of films.

Blog
There were 24,139 visits to the Tate Kids blog between September 2013 to September 2014. 72.5% of blog visits
were from the UK, with the majority of users finding the blog via Google. While very few children visited Blog on
their own, when taken to it they generally found it interesting and liked the ‘news feed’ element. When prompted,
participants did not understand what the term ‘blog’ meant – and after review thought that ‘sharing’ or ‘news’ was a
better term to describe this section.

User Generated Content

There are currently 14,400 profiles made in My Gallery. Since the site launched there has been 9624 pieces of
original artwork uploaded to My Gallery. From the name, most children understood that My Gallery was an area
where you could save Tate art as well as their own art. When they found the section, they liked that it also offered a
‘sharing’ component. Some participants thought that to use My Gallery that they had to have an email address
(something many did not have and who were reliant on their parents to provide).

5
Heat maps

Based on the research, the initial conclusions can be made:

 Tate Kids is a strong brand, which is well respected by users for its quality and safety. The website is seen as
a useful, discoverable homework source and the art games are considered unique and fun.
 The older technology that is used for the games does not work on all devices. Generally there is lots of
undiscoverable content on the site.
 Digital technology changes quickly and is hard to keep up with, which makes it possibly expensive and
unsustainable.
 Kids see digital as a positive part of their lives with social networks and social games proving consistently
very popular. Kids want to create their own content – such as videos and digital artwork and want to share
this with kids internationally.