The Children’s Media Foundation is planning to host a new event in London next March for UK buyers, producers and policymakers looking to generate solutions to industry challenges such as the kids content funding crisis and discoverability.
This Children’s Media Summit is tentatively scheduled for March 24, and CMF editorial director Greg Childs has been laying the groundwork for it since the fall.
Between August and October, the CMF consulted with UK broadcasters and industry orgs including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Paramount, Sky and Animation UK to reach a consensus on the biggest obstacles facing kids content creators in the region.
Unsurprisingly, this preliminary investigation came to the conclusion that children’s media needs more funding, and kids need improved access to age-appropriate content. Childs says the next step is to bring these companies, along with other major kids content players in the UK (like Netflix), to the table to discuss what can be done to provide quality content to children.
The broader issue to be addressed at the event is that kids’ access to media has changed, and they are often choosing platforms like YouTube over public service broadcasters. One of the goals of the Summit is to figure out a way to connect kids with local and international content that’s “appropriate, relevant and tailored to their [needs], and [that also reflects] the cultures of the society they live in,” adds Childs.
The children’s media industry in Britain has taken a bit of a beating this year, with the BBC (one of the region’s biggest kids content buyers) announcing in March that it would cut 1,000 hours in commissions across its programming portfolio. But there were also a few wins scored in 2023—the region was welcomed back to Cartoon Forum in September to pitch new animated TV concepts, and the UK government has plans to add a million more jobs to its creative sector by 2030.
The Children’s Media Summit will discuss the current state of the industry, and the ultimate aim is to get politicians and policymakers involved in helping to ensure that children’s access to content actually improves, says Childs. “But it’s a big ‘ask,’ he adds. “We hope much can come about through collaboration and a willingness to change, but in the end, politicians have to pick this up and run with it to ensure long-term success.”
Image of London courtesy of Nick Fewings via Unsplash.