Marketing to Gen Alpha in Australia: A Practical Guide for Brands
Marketing to Gen Alpha in Australia now means reaching children born from 2010 to 2024 through their parents, YouTube, and games, under some of the strictest rules for young audiences anywhere. I first wrote about Generation Alpha in 2024 and have updated this guide with Australia’s under-16 social media age restrictions, the draft Children’s Online Privacy Code, and new research on what Australian kids watch.
Plenty of family brands can feel the old playbook of kid-targeted social ads fading, while the replacement still looks unclear. This guide sets out what has changed and gives you a plan that works inside the rules.
Want help planning marketing for a family audience? See how I work as a fractional CMO in Sydney.
Who Is Generation Alpha?
Generation Alpha are people born from 2010 to 2024, as defined by McCrindle, the Australian research firm that named the cohort. In 2026 the oldest are teenagers and the youngest are toddlers, so one label covers very different audiences, from preschoolers to high school students.
McCrindle says more than 2.8 million Gen Alphas were born globally every week and that, once all are born, they will number almost 2 billion, “the largest generation in the history of the world”. The name came out of McCrindle’s research for the book The ABC of XYZ. On the same timeline, Gen Z were born from 1995 to 2009 and Generation Beta from 2025 to 2039.
For marketers, the practical point is age. Almost every member of Gen Alpha is still under 16, so in Australia the person who sees your ad, the person who pays, and the person the law protects are often three different people.
Why Did Gen Alpha Marketing in Australia Change in 2025?
Since 10 December 2025, age-restricted social media platforms must take reasonable steps to stop Australians under 16 from creating or keeping accounts. eSafety names Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit among them, which covers most of the places brands once reached older Gen Alpha kids.
eSafety describes the change as “a delay to having accounts”. There are no penalties for children or parents, while platforms that fail to take reasonable steps face court-imposed fines of up to 300,000 penalty units for corporations. Online gaming and standalone messaging apps are among the services excluded from the restrictions.
Logged-out viewing still happens. Roy Morgan reports that Australian under-16s can no longer sign into YouTube with a Google account, while the restrictions have not affected YouTube Kids or watching YouTube without an account. Kids still watch; brands simply lose most of the account-based targeting that used to reach them.
In Australia, marketing to Gen Alpha now starts with the parent and is kept by the child’s trust.
What Do Australian Gen Alpha Kids Watch?
YouTube remains the main screen for Australian Gen Alpha. A Roy Morgan survey of 1,129 Australians aged 6 to 13, run from April to December 2025, found 89% watch YouTube, Gaming is the top category, and one creator dominates favourite-channel mentions.
The Roy Morgan Young Australians Survey found Gaming is watched by 1.33 million children aged 6 to 13, or 53% of those who watch YouTube, and it is the number one category in every two-year age band. MrBeast was named as the single favourite channel by 15.2% of children, with the next nine channels at around 1% each. Roy Morgan also notes several favourite creators are unavailable inside YouTube Kids.
Attention is concentrated. A small set of creators and one content category carry most of the viewing, so a brand that understands gaming culture and the creators parents allow will reach more families than one that spreads effort across every platform.
What Are the Rules for Marketing to Children in Australia?
Three layers apply. The AANA Children’s Advertising Code covers advertising to children under 15, the social media minimum age covers accounts for under-16s, and the draft Children’s Online Privacy Code is due to be registered by 10 December 2026. Check all three before any campaign that could reach Gen Alpha.
The AANA Children’s Advertising Code, effective from 1 December 2023, says advertising to children “must not contain an appeal to Children to urge their parents, carers or another person to buy” the product. Whether an ad targets children depends on the product, the way the ad is presented, and whether a significant proportion of the expected audience is children.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner released an exposure draft of the privacy code in 2026. Allens’ analysis of the draft says default settings must limit data to what is strictly necessary, which would effectively end default-on targeted advertising and personalisation for children’s accounts, and that direct marketing to children would be barred unless their information was collected directly from them. The draft can still change, so treat this as a direction of travel and get legal advice for your situation.
How Do You Market to Gen Alpha in Australia?
Market to the parent, design for the child, and collect as little data as possible. The brands that do well with Gen Alpha earn a place in play and family routines, work with creators parents already trust, and build memory that will matter when these kids become customers in their own right.
| Lesson | What it means | First step |
|---|---|---|
| Market to the parent, design for the child | Parents buy and control accounts, and children shape the choice | Write one parent-facing message for each child-facing product |
| Earn a place in play | Gaming is the top YouTube category for Australian kids | Review how your product shows up in games and gaming content |
| Partner with trusted creators | Viewing concentrates on a few creators families allow | Shortlist creators parents already watch with their kids |
| Collect less data | The draft privacy code points to strictly necessary data by default | Audit forms, tracking, and default settings on family pages |
| Build memory for later | Today’s 10-year-old becomes an adult customer in the 2030s | Keep logos, colours, sounds, and taglines consistent across years |
Distinctive, consistent brand cues matter more when targeting tools shrink. If you want to understand why familiar cues work on young and adult minds alike, read my guide to consumer psychology and my piece on the repetition effect.
A 30-Day Gen Alpha Marketing Plan
A month is enough to bring a family brand inside the rules and point its budget at the people who buy. Work through these six steps in order, starting with risk and ending with growth.
- Find your child-directed assets. List ads, pages, and posts that could count as advertising to children under the AANA’s three tests.
- Remove pester appeals. Delete any line that asks children to tell, ask, or convince a parent to buy.
- Reset social targeting. Stop any under-16 targeting on age-restricted platforms and move that budget to parent audiences.
- Check data collection. Compare forms, pixels, and default settings with the draft Children’s Online Privacy Code.
- Build parent-first content. Answer the questions parents search for, and use YouTube and email to reach them.
- Brief one trusted partner. Choose one creator, school program, sport club, or gaming community, with clear disclosure.
Is Gen Alpha the AI Generation?
Gen Alpha is the first generation to grow up with generative AI as an everyday tool for homework, play, and search. In my view, that will shape how they judge brands as adults: they will expect fast, personal, and honest answers, and they will notice when a brand cannot give them.
As I put it in 2024, if Gen Z are called Zoomers, Gen Alpha could well be known as Gen AI. For brands, the practical move is to make your products, service pages, and policies easy for both people and AI assistants to understand, because that is where many of these future customers will start. My guides to the creator economy and brand archetypes show how to build that clarity into a brand.
Proof From an Australian Brand
Clear audience strategy and disciplined testing pay off for Australian brands without a global budget. In my paid social work with an Aussie fashion icon, the brand achieved 28% more sales from social in six months.
Read the full Aussie fashion icon paid social case study. For hands-on help with parent-facing creative and channels, see my work as a social media consultant.
Who Is This For?
This guide suits founders, marketing managers, and brand teams at Australian toy, games, food, education, entertainment, fashion, and retail brands with children or families in their audience. It also suits anyone building a social media strategy after the under-16 age restrictions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Gen Alpha age range?
Generation Alpha are people born from 2010 to 2024, according to McCrindle, the Australian research firm that named the cohort. In 2026 that means ages from about 1 to 16.
Is 2011 Gen Z or Gen Alpha?
A person born in 2011 is Gen Alpha. McCrindle places Gen Z from 1995 to 2009 and Gen Alpha from 2010 to 2024.
Can brands advertise to Gen Alpha on social media in Australia?
Since 10 December 2025, age-restricted platforms must take reasonable steps to stop under-16s from having accounts, so account-based targeting of Gen Alpha on those platforms is largely gone. Advertising that reaches children must also follow the AANA Children’s Advertising Code.
What comes after Gen Alpha?
Generation Beta follows Gen Alpha and covers people born from 2025 to 2039, according to McCrindle.
What To Do Next
If your brand sells to families and your marketing still relies on reaching kids directly, get in touch about a family marketing review. To see how a fractional CMO sets that direction, visit my fractional CMO Sydney page.
About Crom Salvatera
Crom Salvatera is a Sydney-based AI marketing consultant and Head of SEO, AEO and GEO with 22+ years in marketing and 14 in high-level digital. He created the TLC Method (Tech, Links, Content), has managed and optimised 500+ ad accounts and has helped generate $650M+ in revenue for employers and clients, with brand experience including LEGO, Hasbro and JB Hi-Fi. Connect with him on LinkedIn.