The global kids’ TV industry “is on its knees” because of the defection of children to online platforms and the resulting impact on traditional television, according to director of BBC Children’s and Education Patricia Hidalgo.
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| Louise Bucknole, GM of kids and family at Paramount UK & Ireland |
Hidalgo was featured on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this week where she spoke to former children’s TV presenter Baroness Floella Benjamin (Playskool) about the the lack of public service and locally-relevant content young audiences are finding on streaming platforms.
The executive said the BBC has not stopped making “valuable children’s content at scale,” that is both “very British” and culturally relevant, but noted that “it is mostly only public service broadcasters and mostly the BBC that is able to continue to provide this content.”
“Streaming services don’t feel they need to invest in content for children in local markets to attract them to their platforms. They will invest in content that is local but mostly for the adult population of that country,” she said.
Hidalgo added that her “number one wish” would be an improved tax incentive for the creation of culturally-relevant programming for children, to encourage content makers and platforms to consider public service values.
“I always believe the way to make people do what’s right is to positively incentivise them to do what’s right,” she said. “If we could have some sort of increased tax incentive that was specifically targeted to creating culturally relevant content for children in the UK, that would go a long way.”
Speaking alongside Hidalgo was Louise Bucknole, general manager of kids and family at Paramount UK & Ireland, who heads commissioning at Channel 5’s preschool block Milkshake! and Nickelodeon.
Praising the now-defunct Young Audiences Content Fund, which funded 13 productions at Channel 5 between 2019 and 2022, Bucknole said a new contestable fund or pool of money via private-public funding would help to support the continuing creation of public service programming in the UK.
The exec noted that while she is still commissioning content, commissions are not at the same level as they were due to funding challenges. “What we’re having to do, particularly with live-action series, is we’re having to fully fund. So, we’re not going to make as many [shows] because we have a limit on our budgets,” she said.
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