Mexico City, September 23, 2026. One of the largest entertainment franchises in the world, and the brand with the highest affinity among U18 audiences, chose Kidscorp as its strategic partner to turn interest in the Trading Card Game (TCG) into meaningful interaction and purchase intent. The TCG is a collecting phenomenon, where players live with the expectation of getting different, high-value cards.
The campaign ran during the period of highest media cost inflation of the year, which amplifies the value of the performance achieved, focusing on the 6 to 12 age segment.
The challenge: awareness earned, participation pending
Kidscorp's U18 Radar data in Mexico set a clear starting point. The brand leads ad recall in its toy category, with 56.4% among kids aged 6 to 12, ahead of any other brand. 48.1% say they know the brand, but only 15.1% own it and play with it.
That gap between knowing and participating was exactly the space for the campaign. The challenge was not to establish the brand; it was already established. It was to turn broad awareness into active participation among those who already had a real affinity with the franchise.
That nuance defines the entire strategy. Kids aged 6 to 12 are not a homogeneous audience: in the 10 to 12 segment, almost 3 in 10 describe themselves as fans of the franchise. Relevance starts with affinity, not with reach.
The strategy: two platforms, two roles
The campaign was bought segmented by age from day one: two independent lines, ages 6 to 9 and 10 to 12, with their own affinity clusters and creatives for each group.
U18 Radar provided the map: 68% of kids aged 7 to 12 in Mexico watch YouTube every week, which confirmed the video platform YouTube as the natural engine of discovery. After YouTube, attention deepens in gaming apps, the environment of long sessions and sustained attention.
Based on that reading, a two-platform architecture was built with distinct and complementary roles, activated through U18 DSP.
YouTube as an efficient reach engine. Dynamic CPM buying, with creative length testing (15 and 30 seconds) that made it possible to optimize for VTR, and contextual affinity clusters across animation, fantasy, entertainment and gaming channels.
Gaming apps as a consideration engine. The Branded Video format in environments such as Candy Crush Saga, Subway Surfers and Dragon City generates measurable actions that go beyond passive views: CTR is the KPI because that is where interest translates into verifiable purchase intent, within high-attention sessions that kids actively chose.
Beyond media efficiency, the brand required specific safeguards for an audience aged 6 to 12 in gaming environments. Compliance with standards such as COPPA Compliance and GDPR, along with local child protection regulations, was not an administrative requirement but a strategic decision. Kidscorp's U18 DSP builds these safeguards into its data and targeting architecture, which allowed the brand to scale the campaign with confidence across different jurisdictions and environments, a differentiator that general solutions do not offer.
Results
The campaign ran for 29 days, from May 22 to June 19, 2026, a period that brings together both the peak of digital consumption among Mexican kids and the year's peak in media cost inflation, driven by the start of the World Cup. The efficiency reported below was achieved under the most competitive conditions of the media calendar.
On YouTube, U18 DSP delivered cost efficiency more than 40% above the market benchmark, almost double the volume for the same investment. The 15-second creatives reached 38.1% VTR, the highest on YouTube during the period, with an industry reference VTR of 50-70%. That efficiency did not come from buying cheaper inventory, but from buying it earlier and better: availability secured ahead of June inflation and affinity clusters that reduced waste on non-relevant audiences.
In In-App Branded Video, the direct interaction format delivered the most differentiating result. CTR reached 5.37% in the 6 to 9 segment and 7.76% in the 10 to 12 segment, more than doubling the 1.5%-3% industry benchmark in the second group. VTR was also high (88.34% and 85.30% respectively, against a standard benchmark of 60-80% in gaming apps), which shows that the interactive experience did not just capture attention: it turned it into measurable actions with verifiable purchase intent.
“We weren't looking to reach every kid, but to impact the brand's real fans in the places where they are already building their preference, with the message adapted to each age range. That's the difference between buying reach and building relevance.”
Learnings
The optimal creative length depends on the format and the consumption context, not on a single rule. In fragmented-attention environments like YouTube, brevity wins. In captive environments like gaming apps, where the user chose to be in an extended session, richer narrative and product storytelling have room to breathe and generate greater direct engagement.
Adapting the message (not just the audience) is as strategic as the buying segmentation itself. The creative personalized by age range consistently outperformed the generic or hero versions, showing that personalization must go beyond targeting and into the content itself.
Consumption behavior varies significantly by age within the U18 audience. Kids under 9 interact as passive content consumers, while the 10-12 segment shows active intent and seeks direct interaction. This difference in behavior reflects the stronger bond with franchises that U18 Radar documents in the older segment, where almost 3 in 10 kids define themselves as fans.
Conclusion
The case shows a clear sequence: an audience reading that identified where the gap was, a two-platform architecture with defined roles and an execution that sustained efficiency in the most competitive window of the year. The result was not just visibility, it was measurable interaction, with the 10 to 12 segment as the main driver of active intent.
With Kidscorp, the brand connected with the next generation of collectors in Mexico, in the environments where that generation already chooses to be.
About Kidscorp
Kidscorp is the adtech company specialized in under-18 (U18) audiences, with more than 11 years of experience and presence in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile. Its proprietary stack integrates U18 Radar, U18 DSP and Creative Studio to plan, activate and measure campaigns in the environments where U18 audiences actually spend their time.
Source: U18 Radar.