New analysis demonstrating the unique and irreplaceable role the BBC plays to inform, educate and entertain children across the UK, has been released. As the most trusted media organisation among children, parents and teachers, the BBC continues to provide safe, high quality, age appropriate content at a time when the online environment is becoming increasingly fragmented, commercialised and risky for young people.<\/p>\n
The report warns of an alarming decline in UK made children\u2019s content and growing pressures on the wider children\u2019s media sector. Calling for specific policy interventions to secure the future of the sector and significant impact on future generations careers, success, wellbeing and happiness, as the BBC services also deliver measurable social and economic value for the UK.<\/p>\n
The report also indicates across news, education and entertainment, the BBC reaches millions of children every week. This reach and universal availability ensures that children from all backgrounds have access to trusted information, culturally relevant storytelling and curriculum aligned learning resources.<\/p>\n
Patricia Hidalgo, Director of BBC Children\u2019s & Education, says: \u201cThe impact we make in children\u2019s lives and with their families is clear. And our ambition is simple: every child – wherever they live, whatever their background – should have access to trusted news, world class educational support and joyful, meaningful entertainment that reflects the UK\u2019s diversity and creativity. To deliver that, we need a sustainable future for the wider children\u2019s media sector.<\/p>\n
“Without specific action, there is a real danger that the next generation will grow up without the culturally rooted, educationally rich and imaginative content they deserve. The BBC is working hard to meet their needs. But we cannot do it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
HM4<\/p>\n
A trusted lifeline for young people<\/p>\n
The report reveals significant social and economic impact of BBC Children\u2019s and Education:<\/p>\n
Newsround helps young audiences make sense of complex and sometimes frightening world events, reaching 3.5 million* children weekly during term time and remaining the most trusted news source for 7-12 year olds.
\nBBC Bitesize is the UK\u2019s most trusted educational brand**, supporting children in every nation and subject area. It reaches more than half of all 4-15s weekly and contributes to improved exam performance worth over \u00a380 million in long-term economic benefits.
\nIncreased social mobility*** for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who take part in BBC educational campaigns. Children who received free school meals were more likely to end up in higher income (ABC1) groups as adults (58%) than those who didn\u2019t take part in educational campaigns (38%).
\nTelevision programmes across CBBC and CBeebies reflect children\u2019s communities, ambitions and identities – nurturing informed citizens, confident learners and creative, curious young people.
\nCultural wellbeing benefits worth over \u00a343 million annually, driven by children\u2019s engagement with BBC arts, music and storytelling content.
\nThe BBC is the UK\u2019s largest commissioner of original children\u2019s programming, and this ecosystem supports 1,275 jobs in the UK production sector, with 85% of commissioning spend directed outside London.<\/p>\n
A sector under pressure<\/p>\n
Despite its impact, the children\u2019s media sector faces major challenges. Investment by UK public service broadcasters (PSBs) in children\u2019s content has fallen sharply. Channel 4 has not commissioned a children\u2019s programme for decades; ITV has closed its children\u2019s channel and stopped commissioning; and Channel 5\u2019s children\u2019s output remains smaller than the BBC\u2019s and focused on preschool.<\/p>\n
Commercial broadcasters are not filling the gap, with Sky Kids recently ending their original children\u2019s commissioning. Global streaming services are inconsistent in commissioning UK-originated children\u2019s content, and inflation in production costs is placing further pressure on domestic supply. At the same time, Licence Fee revenue has declined in real terms, making it harder for the BBC to sustain the level of investment required for a thriving production ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Policy action needed to secure the future of UK children\u2019s content<\/p>\n
Without intervention, the UK risks losing culturally important content that reflects children\u2019s lives and supports national outcomes in education, wellbeing and cohesion. The BBC is calling for targeted action to strengthen the children\u2019s media ecosystem, including:<\/p>\n
Modernised prominence rules to ensure UK children\u2019s content can be easily discovered across platforms dominated by global providers.
\nSupport for trusted news, ensuring that impartial, age appropriate journalism is promoted on the platforms young people use most.
\nInvestment in UK storytelling, including enhancing the Children\u2019s Television Tax Credit Relief and ensuring sustainable funding for the BBC.
\nStronger partnerships, enabling PSBs, commercial broadcasters, streamers and screen agencies to collaborate and co-commission content at scale.<\/p>\n
Key statistics<\/p>\n
1,275 UK jobs supported in children\u2019s TV production
\n4x more commissioned hours of children\u2019s TV by the BBC than all other UK PSBs, commercial broadcasters and global SVODs combined
\n85% of BBC children\u2019s TV investment spent outside London
\n\u00a343m wellbeing value annually for children aged 10\u201314
\n89% of parents, whose children use BBC,** surveyed say BBC children\u2019s content supports their child\u2019s learning
\n\u00a380m economic benefit annually from Bitesize
\nNo. 1 trusted education brand (Bitesize)
\nIncreased social mobility*** for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who use BBC services
\nNo. 1 trusted news brand** for children and parents
\n78%** of parents surveyed rate Newsround as good or very good at providing suitable news for their child.<\/p>\n
The report was prepared in house by economists within BBC Policy and Public Affairs, the report draws on stakeholder interviews, BBC commissioned research on parents\u2019 and children\u2019s views, economic evidence from academic and industry publications, and wider desk research. It examines the BBC\u2019s role and impact across entertainment, education and news.<\/p>\n
BBC commissioned research:<\/p>\n
* Estimate based on web traffic to the Newsround \u2018watch bulletin\u2019 on newsround.co.uk during term time and school<\/p>\n
**Data from a nationally representative survey of 2,502 parents \/ guardians of children aged 0-16 conducted by DJS Research in January 2026.<\/p>\n
***Data from a survey of 3,000 16-34 year olds in the UK, conducted by Beano Brain, commissioned April in 2025.<\/p>\n
*** hours (8-4pm to incorporate viewing in breakfast clubs and after school care). Multiplied by average class size (27 \u2013 Department for Education, school census)<\/p>\n
Follow for more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New analysis demonstrating the unique and irreplaceable role the BBC plays to inform, educate and entertain children across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-455268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}