According to a research study by a youth and family research company, the top brand among children with ages between 6 years and 12 years old is the Apple iPad.

The study, which was conducted by Smarty Pants, is named the Young Love study, ranks over 250 brands yearly in what is the biggest survey of brands in the country that focuses on youth and families.

The Young Love study is carried out online, utilizing a representative group of households in the United States that have children between 6 years old and 12 years old. The 2014 edition of the study involved a total of 256 consumer brands spread across over 20 categories.

The study took three months to complete, with a total of 6,661 children and parents answering the survey.

This year, Apple iPad came out as the top brand among children, scoring 898 points as its "kidfinity score" in the study. The score, which is on a scale of 0 to 1000, measures the popularity, awareness and love that a child has for the brand.

"iPad's number one status among kids represents the culmination of the 'tablet takeover' — a movement from shared screens and TV network dominance to curated content on personal devices," said Smarty Pants president Wynne Tyree.

Tyree added that children are turning more towards the iPad to play games, watch TV shows and videos, read books, look for homework help and communicate with family and friends.

The rise of the iPad to the top of the rankings is a dramatic one, according to Tyree, as five years ago, the brand ranked only 109th in the study.

"Early on, it captured the hearts of tweens and middle and upper class families, but iPad is now an indispensable part of childhood for the masses."

Children now see the tablet as a comprehensive digital companion that gives them an early sense of independence. The iPad becomes a very personal portal for children, aided by the fact that it is very simple to use.

Overall, digital entertainment brands have steadily increased their scores in the study, as both children and families are giving higher scores to brands such as Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Samsung and Android. Along with the Apple iPad, the services and devices that these brands represent provide children and families with digital entertainment that they can readily access.

The massive number of options presented by these brands meets the needs of the children of today, as entertainment is always just one tap away.

Hershey's ranked second with a score of 894, Oreo ranked third with a score of 885, M&M's ranked fourth with a score of 868, and Doritoes rounded out the top five with a score of 868. 

There are also other Apple products making the top 50, with the iPod ranked 19th with a score of 836, the iPhone ranked 23rd with a score of 832, and the Mac ranked 25th with a score of 829.