Child’s Play Issues in Australian Children’s Television 2013 Contents © Screen Australia 2013 INTRODUCTION 1 ISBN: 978-1-920998-25-7 KEY FINDINGS 3 FOCUS 1: THE AUDIENCE The text in this report is released Child audience attitudes and behaviours: subject to a Creative Commons BY licence (Licence). This means, in What's On survey 4 summary, that you may reproduce, Viewing patterns: transmit and distribute the text, provided that you do not do so for Ratings analysis 6 commercial purposes, and provided that you attribute the text as FOCUS 2: THE BROADCASTERS extracted from Child's play: Issues in Australian children's television 2013, Broadcaster programming strategies: Screen Australia, 2013. You must not Schedule analysis 7 alter, transform or build upon the text in this publication. Your rights under On-air promotion of children’s programs: the Licence are in addition to any fair Program breaks analysis 8 dealing rights which you have under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cwlth). FOCUS 3: THE PRODUCERS For further terms of the Licence, Financing and production of children’s content: please see http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are Data from Screen Australia’s Drama Report 11 not licensed to distribute any still Challenges and opportunities for producers: photographs or videos contained in this document without the prior Producers’ survey 11 permission of Screen Australia. Front cover image: CONCLUSION 12 The Adventures of Figaro Pho APPENDICES Appendix A: Children’s Television Standards (CTS) 13 Appendix B: International context 14 This report summarises the findings of three comprehensive briefing papers which can be accessed at www.screenaustralia.gov.au/childsplay Child’s Play draws from a number of sources. Screen Australia has undertaken all reasonable measures to ensure its accuracy and therefore cannot accept responsibility for inaccuracies and omissions. Introduction Screen Australia and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation have undertaken this project to increase understanding of how children engage with screen content, and the unique challenges involved in financing, producing and scheduling children’s programs in today’s rapidly evolving media landscape. The project draws together previously available data and insights from new research, building on issues raised in the Screen Australia publications Beyond the Box Office, What to Watch? and Convergence 2011: Australian Content State of Play. CONTEXT Several assumptions provide a starting point for the analysis. It’s important that children have access to content made for them, and Australian content made for them. The Adventures of Figaro Pho It is a community expectation that children have access to content that deals with stories, concepts and ideas relevant to them, including content that presents a uniquely Australian point of view. A guiding principle of the Children’s Television THREE KEY Standards is that locally produced children’s television is essential to the ‘cultural INSIGHTS health and vitality of young Australians’.1 Children’s content is difficult to finance and monetise. Quality children’s drama is expensive to produce, but because of its more limited 1. Children want ability to generate advertising revenue (due to restrictions on advertising during C to watch television programs), it attracts smaller licence fees from the commercial broadcasters than many other types of content. Even projects made for the ABC, which does not have content made the same commercial imperative, often rely on government support and foreign sources to complete financing. specifically for them. For both of these reasons, the Australian Government, like the governments of many other countries, has supported the production of local children’s content through a combination of content quotas, direct subsidy and tax incentives. As a 2. Scheduling is result, the Australian children’s television sector is well regarded both domestically and internationally for its high-quality live-action and animated drama series. key to the broadcast Australian children’s series are broadcast all over the world including recent success of a program. international successes Dance Academy, which has sold to over 180 territories, and Lockie Leonard and Mortified, which have both sold to territories in Asia, Europe and South America, among others. Australian productions also have a strong track record at international children’s television awards; Figaro Pho, for example, won the 3. Financing Kidscreen award for best animated series for series 1 in 2009 and series 2 in 2013. children’s content is The current environment, both international and domestic, has created difficulties. ever more difficult. The past decade has seen a rapid expansion in the number of dedicated children’s channels available on digital terrestrial and IPTV platforms internationally. While this means a greater number of potential sales for producers, it also means that licence fees are falling as audience fragmentation places pressure on advertising revenue. On top of this phenomenon, the global financial crisis made it challenging for local productions to attract finance from international sources, and the strong Australian dollar has diminished the value to the budget of any international finance that does become available. Domestically, the introduction of the digital multi-channels along with the launch of video-on-demand services by the free-to-air broadcasters and the rapid uptake in smartphones and tablets has meant that the volume of content available to Australian audiences has increased exponentially. However, recent changes to broadcasting regulation have not extended the children’s content quota to the multi-channels, one of the recommendations of the Australian Government’s Convergence Review. In order to continue providing appropriate levels of high-quality Australian children’s content, support for and regulation of children’s television needs to be calibrated to the media environment. 1 ACMA, Australian Children’s Television Standards 2009 CHILD'S PLAY: Issues in Australian Children’s Television 2013 | Screen Australia 1 Introduction SCOPE This report presents findings in three main areas, drawing on a range of data sources. Extended research papers in each area are also available at: www.screenaustralia.gov.au/childsplay The audience The broadcasters The producers • Child audience attitudes and • Broadcaster programming • Financing and production of behaviours: Screen Australia and strategies: The on-air schedules children’s drama: Screen Australia the Australian Children’s Television of the free-to-air broadcasters, analysed production and financial Foundation commissioned What’s including their catch-up services, data from its production databases On, a survey of children aged and the three dedicated children’s to help explore the unique 2–14 years, to understand how subscription television channels characteristics of children’s content children engage with television, were analysed in order to shed light production as well as recent trends the influences on their viewing on their strategies for programming and changes. behaviour and their attitudes and promoting children’s content. • Children’s content producers: towards various types of content. The content of commercial breaks Screen Australia interviewed 10 broadcast during children’s Viewing patterns: Screen Australia children’s content producers about • programming blocks was analysed used ratings data to plot child their experiences of producing in order to gain insights into how the viewing patterns across the content for children and the commercial free-to-air networks broadcast day to determine what opportunities and challenges promote children’s programs. Australian children are watching facing the sector. In addition, the programming and when. This updates findings strategies for specific programs originally presented in Screen were analysed as case studies. Australia’s report Convergence 2011: Australian Content State of Play. dirtgirlworld 2 Key findings Children are a discriminating and potentially • A large proportion of children find out highly engaged audience, but influences on about narrative programs by seeing them viewing patterns are complex. advertised on TV. However, there is limited opportunity or incentive for cross-promotion • Children are naturally savvy media users of children’s programs to the child audience who can distinguish content made for them given factors such as the restriction on and prefer it. promotions during children’s programming • Children engage with drama differently set out in the Children’s Television Standards, from other types of content; they are more the need for the commercial free-to-air highly engaged with drama on a number networks to monetise programming through of levels. advertising, and their tendency to promote their strongest properties, which are often • What children watch is influenced by a general-audience programs. range of factors such as parental control and time available. Australia has an international reputation for • Peak viewing across most channels high-quality children’s television, but this coincides with the designated C and P content is getting harder to produce. program time bands, but the highest audiences for children are during early • Australian children’s programs are evening, when children tend to be ‘co- broadcast all over the world and have viewing’ programs for general audiences. a strong track record at international children’s television