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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Smart thinking from the people running the content business.

Taking the lead in the protection of public service media

At Warsaw-based coproduction forum Young Horizons Industry last week, Greg Childs, director of the UK’s Children’s Media Foundation, spoke to C21 about why the UK government should take the lead in protecting European public service media in the age of YouTube.

Greg Childs

International coproduction forum Young Horizons Industry held its eighth edition last week, in the Polish capital of Warsaw. The event gave producers from across Europe the opportunity to pitch their new films and series to potential partners and showcased some of the continent’s upcoming productions.

Greg Childs, director of the UK’s Children’s Media Foundation (CMF), also chaired a closed meeting with 15 European broadcasters to discuss public service content in the age of platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Broadcasters included representatives from the BBC (UK), VRT (Belgium), NDR (Germany), NRK Super (Norway), Canal+ Polska (Poland), Česká Televize (Czech Republic), AMC Networks International (Hungary), RTÉ (Ireland), LTV (Latvia), LRT (Lithuania), VPRO Kids (The Netherlands), BNNVARA (The Netherlands), RTV (Slovenia), Catalan TV (Spain) and TRT (Turkey).

Childs spoke to C21 after the meeting, sharing his key takeaways from the discussion on how the European market should respond to the defection of kids online.

“No-one has ever convened a group of broadcasters to actually talk honestly about what they’re facing,” he says. “Some of the topics of conversation were interesting. All in all, broadcasters admitted to losing linear audience, some less so than others, while some went as far as saying they don’t even count their channels anymore because it’s all about where they are digitally.

“Some are still using a children’s player, but quite a few of them are doing what the BBC did, which is amalgamating their children’s content so their children’s app is part of the main broadcaster app. This surprised me because at the Foundation we believe the loss of the children’s version of iPlayer was a terrible mistake. But interestingly, some of the other broadcasters are coming to the same conclusion that they need to be in the place where the whole family goes to find content.

“What was also interesting was the extent to which people were using YouTube and other platforms like TikTok, Roblox and Fortnite to draw people back to their own digital services. Some of the broadcasters were talking about ‘dancing with the devil,’ which is to say they are actively on YouTube and TikTok; they are making public service TikToks, which raised some eyebrows in the room. While some of the broadcasters’ content is substantially on YouTube, most of the others said they used YouTube to drip content to try to draw kids back to their apps and services.”

Delegates gathered at Young Horizons Industry in Warsaw

Childs adds: “In different territories they feel they’re holding the fort well in their way. In smaller territories, there were one or two very innovative ideas; and in the larger territories, there was a feel that they’ve got something of a plan by switching to digital delivery.”

The CMF is lobbying the UK government to protect public service content for kids, by introducing regulations that would require YouTube to contribute in some way to the public service sector. But Childs says many of the pubcasters at the meeting felt they lacked enough power to influence their respective governments. The UK, therefore, should take the lead, he says.

“As public service broadcasters, very few of them are able to influence the political sphere to take a look at YouTube. And as the children’s arms of public service broadcasters, they are in [the lower end of] a pecking order,” Childs says.

“There is no government yet that has assured its public service broadcasters that there is a policy [to help protect public service content]. Britain should try to take the lead and should start talking very seriously to YouTube about how it’s going to either start working for good or be regulated for good.

“The general impression I got from the room was that there was agreement they would like to think those places [like YouTube] could become friendlier towards public service and localised media. Content that’s specifically relevant to kids in their markets.”

Childs will be taking the CMF to MipJunior later this month, where he will be extending the discussion with broadcasters from outside Europe, including Australia, Canada and the US. This meeting will also involve producers and distributors, as well as other children’s media associations.

“The Idea is that an international movement might grow. That remains to be seen; my organisation is too small to do that on its own, but it has been interesting talking, for example, to the Australian Children’s Television Foundation about the need for organisations like ours to come together,” Childs says.

The UK government should take the lead in protecting European public service media

Childs also hopes to meet soon with Stephanie Peacock, the under-secretary of state for sport, media, civil society and youth, to encourage the UK government to make the first move in the fight for children’s public service media. The CMF envisions a new public service compact under which platforms that “capture a significant audience” are required to have public service obligations, although Childs says he doesn’t know “whether the politicians will buy that. So far, the only support we’ve had is for an amendment to have this looked at.”

“YouTube has disrupted the children’s market. It’s not distributing advertising revenue in the way it was distributed under the broadcast model, but it’s captured the minds of a huge proportion of children across the world. There are 400 million YouTube users a month under the age of 13 across the world, according to the figures I’ve heard, and 100 million on top watching YouTube Kids. Yet producers are struggling to put projects together,” he says.

“If we don’t do anything, we’re going to have a bunch of kids who don’t know what public service media is, who don’t understand what impartial news is, who don’t connect with the places they live, who don’t see themselves and who don’t hear their own stories. And they probably won’t pay for public service media in the future because they won’t understand why they have to.”

Childs concludes that he sees “a very dramatic change” occurring in the children’s public service media sector. “It’s not all doom and gloom. As broadcasters, they [those at the meeting] see this as a fantastic opportunity. But it is tough.”


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