By: Agnes Augustin

In a world where cost-cutting has become the norm due to post-pandemic recovery, inflation and improving the bottom line, children are being left behind.

That’s especially true when it comes to legacy media companies. Producers around the world rely on US-owned channels either commissioning shows or acquiring them. Around 48% of all European children’s channels are US-owned, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory. And while many are still active, the contraction in children’s content at US studios has had a profound international impact.

In Canada, kids channels owned by WildBrain and Corus are experiencing significant financial challenges (for many reasons, including the impact of last year’s WGA and SAG strikes). The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recently granted Corus precedent-setting relief by reducing its Canadian content spending obligation on scripted dramas, comedies and long-form docs to from 8.5% to 5% (estimated at CAD$31.8 million in 2023), allowing Corus to shift its spend to news and reality shows. Depending on interpretation,  Corus might also be free from this obligation—which includes Canadian children’s programming—for the remainder of its three-year license term.

This ruling sets the stage for ALL Canadian broadcasters to ask for relief from their Canadian content obligations. What this means is that Canadian broadcasters could potentially reduce the amount of Canadian content they commission—and under the current structure in Canada, these commissioning licenses trigger most of the available domestic funding that a producer needs to finance their shows. This would ultimately result in another hit to the commissioning of kids content in Canada.

The responsibility for creating children’s programs seems to have fallen on public broadcasters. And those that rely on an appropriation of funds from governments are experiencing budgetary reductions of their own (while also balancing their vast public mandates), which is impacting the amount of children’s content being produced. But there’s really no way they can compensate for the significant reduction in kids content investment from private networks and studios. And frankly, they shouldn’t, even if they could, because the difference between private and public broadcasting strategies ensures a diversity of stories, voices and business.

We keep hearing that kids have access to lots of shows, so why does it matter? Well, children’s programming fosters positive values, builds diverse cultural awareness and pride, and sparks imagination and critical thinking through a mix of entertainment and education. Exposure to quality content can lead kids away from the more negative and sometimes toxic content that’s widely available to them. It can also lead to healthier media consumption habits as they grow up and become adults.

Enhancing the well-being of children with new and relevant stories that help them navigate the world far exceeds the “burden” of financial investment in new kids content. And yet, legacy companies, governments and regulators no longer seem to value the importance of the kids media sector. Any feeling of responsibility to children seems to have been lost.

Don’t get me wrong, kids are finding and enjoying lots of content online. In addition to gaming, they watch shorts and user-generated videos there, plus kids TV shows or repurposed content that was developed and paid for by traditional media companies and TV studios. But if we don’t figure out how to finance and create new and relevant programs that are reflective of the world kids live in, we will have failed them.

We simply have to adapt to the technological landscape that has revolutionized the way kids consume content, and we must also invest in new content that sets a higher standard on those platforms.

Generation Alpha (born from 2010 to 2024) will be the largest generation in the history of the world by 2025, when it’s estimated to hit two billion people (McCrindle). This cohort already represents 18% of the total population in the US (worldpopulationreview.com). And kids and youth under the age of 18 made up 20% of Canada’s population in 2022, when the country’s last census was conducted.

Gen Alpha began being born in the year that the iPad and Instagram launched. These kids grew up with Siri and Alexa, and are now experiencing rapid AI advancements. We must offer families trusted content in the way kids consume it, now and in the future. This will require considerable private and public investment.

There was some hope in Canada about the implementation of Bill C-11, known as the Online Streaming Act. The bill was created to bring foreign-owned online undertakings under CRTC regulation, leveling the playing field between traditional broadcasters and streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+. It would mandate foreign streamers operating in Canada to contribute an estimated CAD$200 million towards Canadian-made audiovisual and audio programming.

As it currently stands, the CRTC decision (Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2024-121) will not benefit children’s content, as it did not direct or even incentivize any of the recipients to consider kids in their remit. (Significantly, the Rocket Fund—Canada’s only dedicated fund for children’s and youth content—was not guaranteed an allocation, and it’s uncertain whether the fund will even be a beneficiary.)

Looking at the European Union’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) as a point of comparison, streamers have been supporting the regions where they operate for a few years now, through local spend on IPs they own and also investing in local content. From a contribution standpoint, this very complex system appears to be working. And yet, while the AVMSD has provisions to protect kids online, there is no apparent directive specifically for the creation of children’s content.

We need to find our way back to prioritizing children and creating meaningful, relevant content for them. But how can we do this when the global kids industry is contracting at what feels like a record pace? First, we need to develop global partnerships through co-productions and joint licensing to continue to create great media experiences for children while we work on solutions. Rocket Fund is already seeing a significant increase in the number of co-productions involving Canadian producers. Second, we need a global movement to raise awareness of the importance of high-quality children’s content for today’s media-savvy and “glocal” kids.

Third, we need to source partners who believe in the power of media for kids, and who want to invest in our sector and, more importantly, invest in children and their future. With any luck, this could bring legacy businesses back into the kids content market and help convince governments and regulators to prioritize our children. Our industry is the most influential and powerful medium of communication for children. We have a responsibility to help them navigate the world they live in. We know how to enrich their lives, give them hope and empower them through the content we produce. Now we need a movement.

As president and CEO, Agnes Augustin is the driving force behind Shaw Rocket Fund’s ongoing commitment to the betterment of Canadian children and youth through strategic investments in media content within a social enterprise model.

This article originally appeared in Kidscreen’s Q3 2024 magazine issue, which you can read here.