BBC to spend millions luring kids back from Netflix and YouTube

Kesler's Dad

Kesler's Dad

Well-Known Member
Interesting upcoming push by the BBC. It wouldn't let me paste the URL so you'll have to Google the title to get to the Engadget article.

Any thoughts on the impact this might have on kids channels on YouTube? I would think minimal to none since the market is so huge.

In any case, more quality content for our kids is a pretty exciting thing.

The article...

For decades, the BBC has provided a huge amount of resources for children, whether it be TV programming, online games or GCSE revision guides. But gradually over time, companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Google - not necessarily rival broadcasters, after regulators cracked down on children's TV advertising -- have muscled in on that territory and lured younger viewers away.

Now, kids are more likely to enjoy content on-demand, rather than enjoy linear broadcasts. The BBC understood that shift - highlighted by the launch of iPlayer Kids - over a year ago -- but maybe hasn't done enough to compete with its rivals. Today, the Beeb is attempting to rectify that with the announcement of its "biggest investment in children's services in a generation" as part of its 2017 Annual Plan.

Over the next three years, the BBC raise its Children's budget to £124.4 million, up from £110 million today. Of that, a quarter or £31.4 million will be spent on online services, which will include the commissioning of more TV series and digital resources like video, photos, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, quizzes, guides, games and apps. The BBC says it's able to allocate more money as a result of savings across the corporation, which may include the closure of its Food and Newsbeat sites last year.

According to BBC Director-General Tony Hall, the Children's division will spend the majority of its budget on Cbeebies and CBBC. The aim is to produce "world-class, UK-produced children's programming across all genres, including drama, comedy, factual and news," while ensuring its content is available to children whenever they want it.

"We put children's front and centre throughout the charter renewal process and today's announcement reflects our commitment to our youngest audiences," said Hall. "We're making BBC Children's fit for the future, maintaining our world-class channels whilst enhancing our online offer to meet the needs of the next generation."

"Investment in British content - particularly for the young - is vital, unless we want more of our culture shaped and defined by the rise of West Coast American companies."
 
Last edited:
I doubt it will have any effect especially on the YouTube audience. My 2 children watch YouTube shows, toy unboxings etc and that's not going to be happening on the BBC. They're going for "A major season across TV, radio and online called Civilisations which will tell the story of art up to the present day" which doesn't sound like keeping up with modern day children to me, I mean in an ideal perfect world it would be great to have them interested in historical art but children look more to the future more than ever.

Also £34 million across 3 years although is a lot of money, I don't think it will go very far.
 
lmfao...traditional media is dead. Only those too lazy to do any research actually believe what a news outlet says or does. They have lost their audience to common folk with opinions. At this rate they are attempting to invest in saving their future. They do have a large elderly demographic so maybe kids who stay at grandma's or grandpa's house would be exposed to their kid friendly material but to be honest, those same kids would rather watch their favorite youtubers.
 
I doubt they will be able to get kids back to TV. But they can invest money into making a better Youtube video infrastructure, that may have more chances to succeed.
 
Conso1727 said:
I doubt they will be able to get kids back to TV. But they can invest money into making a better Youtube video infrastructure, that may have more chances to succeed.
Click to expand...

I agree. Seems like the push will be to get content on their iPlayer Kids platform but unless they can get parents and kids to buy into that platform, they'll likely be stuck with decent content and a small audience.

As a parent, if they can make a convincing case to adopt iPlayer Kids with great content and my kids enjoy it, could be interesting reason to try it out. Right now I limit my herd to stuff like Daniel the Tiger and Cat in the Hat, which I find much better for their development than a lot of what's out there. If they bring their A game and can connect with the kids, I think a lot of responsible parents will pay attention. I mean, they've given us Planet Earth that even our 2-year old twins and 3-year old love watching (I'm a huge fan myself) so I wouldn't put it past them to develop something great.

It'll be interesting to say the least.
 
This seems like it will be a huge waste of money. Just put your shiws on youtube. The BBC is government run I beleive, so they dont even need to profit.

If they want to get kids to watch them put quality content on youtube. I doubt many people will download some new app to get their content unless it is amazing. Putting it on youtube will be more convenient for most people. Also the BBC has a huge advantage in one area over TV companies and youtubers. Animation. Kids love cartoons, but they take a long time to make. The BBC can make high quality cartoons and release them regularly. Most youtubers can't produce cartoons quickly. Of course big companies can but it costs them lots of money and they have to worry about profits. The BBC gets money no matter what, so they could produce cartoons of a higher quality than anyone else on youtube.

IMO they should do that instead of this plan which I'm betting will fail.
 
Interesting! They'd have to find a way to have enough content for kids to search and binge-watch. It's hard to compete with a nearly endless supply of videos, since kids care less about quality and more about novelty and the ability to keep watching.
 
Breaking News! The BBC wastes millions and their remaining child audience flocks to the internet after full closure! :p
 
The other week my son discovered a kids toon on YouTube from cbeebs. YT only had a couple short clips. So I downloaded the BBC cbeebs kids app to watch the cartoon, but turns out they do not share their videos with US geographic location. Waste of my time.

I don't think BBC needs to invest millions of dollars to simply unlock their videos to US viewers. this isnt about stopping the westcoast from shaping culture. If they were so concernedd about sharing culture then they should open up access to their content and put more shows on netflix and youtube, not the other way around.

Some people want to watch your content
Make it available. Put it on youtube and netflix.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top