Starting in 2024, major streaming platforms operating in Australia, including Netflix and Disney+, will have to meet quotas for Aussie-made content. This mandate is part of a broader plan called Revive that Australia’s government unveiled today, and it’s all about reforming and supporting the country’s creative industries.

The government plans to consult with the industry this year to define a structure and criteria for the quotas, which are set to come into effect no later than July 1, 2024.

Aussie viewers are increasingly turning to SVODs for content, and Australia wants its own creative industry to benefit from that growth. According to the report, earnings in Australia’s SVOD market increased by nearly 50% in 2021 to more than US$1.7 billion (AUD$2.4 billion), with no requirement to offer Australian content.

“The ready availability of mass content produced in other countries, particularly the US, risks drowning out the voices of Australian storytellers,” reads one excerpt from the report. “It is important that streaming services invest in key genres, including children’s content, scripted drama and documentaries.”

Australian kids content producers, in particular, have been clamoring for quotas since the government scrapped its children’s programming requirements in 2020. Earlier this year, the government floated the idea that streamers should have to invest more than 5% of their gross Australian revenue on local content. Industry org Screen Producers Australia has been a longtime advocate for requiring SVODs to spend 20% of their local revenue on domestic content.

In addition to the quotas, the government is dedicating US$202 million (AUD$286 million) over four years to launch Creative Australia, a new arts investment and advisory body.

Armed with this funding, Creative Australia will establish a First Nations-led board to create, produce and invest in content important to the country’s First Nations communities. Launching in 2024, the board—which will have autonomy over its decisions—is tasked with developing a workforce of First Nations creatives.

The country is also supporting other segments of its creative industry by launching Music Australia and Writers Australia, bodies that will respectively support and invest in music and writers. And its forming a Center for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces that will provide advice and develop resources around pay, safety and welfare in the industry.

Screen Producers Australia was quick to applaud the new plan in a statement released today. “This is an important moment that acknowledges the importance of the government delivering on this commitment to the screen industry,” said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner. “The release of [Revive] brings this long-awaited regulation one step closer. The hard part now will be in negotiating the detail of this policy to get that right.”

Photo courtesy of Jovaughn Stephens via Unsplash.