\n\t\t\t\t\tRMIT research finds as networks and SVODs pull back from children\u2019s television, the ABC, SBS \/ NITV and ACTF are doing the heavy lifting.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Australia\u2019s children\u2019s television sector is at risk of collapse, leaving a widening gap in Australian content for children and tweens, according to a new report.<\/p>\n
New RMIT University research submitted to the federal government\u2019s National Cultural Policy consultation, warns current screen policy settings are failing to support the local stories young audiences need.<\/p>\n
The report details the sector\u2019s contraction amidst volatile conditions, with subscription video on demand (SVOD) services reporting no new children\u2019s commissions in 2024\u201325, while the 2020 removal of commercial broadcaster quotas for children\u2019s television triggered a 97% collapse in investment.<\/p>\n
RMIT Associate Professor Jessica Balanzategui said, \u201cCommercial broadcasters have retreated, streamers are not commissioning new children\u2019s programs, and public institutions are being left to carry an increasingly heavy load,.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver many years research has demonstrated how local children\u2019s television scaffolds children\u2019s participation in multicultural child citizenship and social cohesion.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if we want young people to stay connected to local stories, children and tweens need sustained investment in the sector and local content they can actually find.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur research showed that without concrete protections, children\u2019s television faces a precarious future. Without dedicated obligations and stronger rules to make local content easy to find, we risk leaving young people with fewer local stories when they need them most.\u201d<\/p>\n
As commercial broadcasters and SVODs pull back from children\u2019s television, the ABC, SBS \/ NITV and the Australian Children\u2019s Television Foundation are being left to do much of the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n
RMIT claims that cultural infrastructure is under growing strain, with the average cost of producing live-action children\u2019s drama tripling over five years to $2.82 million an hour, while the volume of new first-release programming has fallen.<\/p>\n
Despite increased commissioning investment, the ABC\u2019s first-release children\u2019s hours have fallen by 59% since 2019, underscoring the widening gap between what the sector is tasked with delivering and what current funding settings can sustain.<\/p>\n
Balanzategui said children aged 10 to 14 are increasingly underserved by local screen content, with fewer new local programs being made for an audience already drifting towards global streaming services and video-sharing platforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren aged 10 to 14 are a particularly difficult audience to retain, with changing viewing habits, rising production costs and weak commissioning pathways all contributing to a shortage of new Australian content for this age group,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The report says the next phase of screen reform must deliver clear obligations, sustained investment and stronger discoverability for Australian content made for children and tweens.<\/p>\n
In its submission last week the Australian Children\u2019s Television Foundation called for \u201cring-fenced funding specifically for children\u2019s and youth content\u201d for public broadcasters; increased funding for ACTF; and transparent and consistent reporting from the SVOD services against the new streaming obligations and monitor the extent to which new children\u2019s content is commissioned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RMIT research finds as networks and SVODs pull back from children\u2019s television, the ABC, SBS \/ NITV and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-717853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}