Who killed Skippy? How the TV networks turned their backs on their next generation

BY Tim Burrowes

May 20, 2024 10:32

Who killed Skippy? How the TV networks turned their backs on their next generation

Welcome to a members-only edition of Unmade. Today, new numbers show that commercial TV networks no longer fund kids content – could that be a factor in why the next generation of viewers is not coming through? Plus, further down, Antony Catalano and ARN Media continue to circle Southern Cross Austereo.

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The TV networks lobbied for a decade to stop making kids television shows. Guess who’s no longer watching?

Sorry, Skippy. The end of quotas killed kids TV | Image: Dall-E

Back in 2020, the lobbyists for the free TV industry pulled off a profit-improving coup. They persuaded the government that they could ditch content quotas of programming for children.

No longer would they need to deliver at least 260 hours of children’s programs and 130 hours of pre-school programs annually.

It was a long project. It was top of the wish list from Free TV Australia in 2011 when the government was reviewing media regulation.

The financial rationale is understandable. One of the inconvenient things about kids is that their spending power – and therefore attraction to advertisers – is limited. Add in all those PR problems of accidentally showing them junk food or betting ads with material in the wrong time slot and you’d understand why those pesky kids didn’t seem very attractive to thr networks.

But it took a decade for the lobbyists to get their way. The children’s content quotas were finally scrapped in 2020. Now the market would decide. The networks could of course go on making and airing kids’ TV content if they wanted to. They didn’t.

New statistics published by the Australian Communications and Media Authority this month demonstrate that the moment they were no longer obliged to make kids TV the commercial networks turned off the taps.

Spend sank from more than $24m in 2018-19 to less than a million ($743,820, to be precise) last year .

The ACMA also recent published data on TV viewing habits among the Australian population.

The youngest age group included in the survey is those aged 18 to 24. They’re also those most likely to no longer be watching broadcast free to air – from 42% of 18-24-year-olds in 2019 to just 18% in 2023.

While correlation is not causation, it seems a rational assumption that people are more likely to form TV viewing habits if they have something to watch as children, and then stay with the medium.

By choosing not to cater for its next generation of viewers, the TV industry has increased the likelihood they never will be viewers.

Predators continue to circle Southern Cross Austereo

On an otherwise quiet day for the Unmade Index, the backroom manoeuvres continued in the battle for ownership of Southern Cross Austereo.

After the market closed yesterday afternoon, the Antony Catalano-led investment vehicle 19 Cashews revealed that it has upped its stake in SCA from 10.6% to 12.78%.

Catalano, proprietor of local news publisher Australian Community Media, was rebuffed by Southern Cross Austereo in his previous proposal last November to fold ACM’s assets into SCA in exchange for a stake of about 15% in the broadcaster..

On that occasions SCA was quick to reject the plan, pointing out that Catalano’s strategy of creating a multi-medium regional giant differed from its focus on becoming an audio-focused company.

That rejection came as SCA’s board took more seriously a takeover bid from ARN Media and Anchorage Capital Partners. But Anchorage dropped out of the consortium just over a week ago, and SCA has so far poured cold water on a revised offer from ARN.

As well as the Catalano update, ARN also posted a short notice to the ASX yesterday saying it was “still considering options in relation to alternative proposals to acquire SCA”.

The Unmade Index, which tracks the movements of Australia’s ASX-listed media and marketing stocks, was almost flat yesterday, losing 0.12% to land on 532.1 points.

At the top end of town, Domain and Seven West Media grew by nearly 2.5% each, while Ooh Media was down by nearly 1%.

Among the mini stocks, Vinyl Group lost more than 10% while Aspermont moved upwards by a simliar amount.

Time to leave you to your Tuesday. Thank you as ever for your membership support.

We’ll be back with more tomorrow. By the time you get this, I’ll be somewhere over Europe on board QF2 back to Australia. My onboard reading is the new report on the acceleration of principal media from the US-based Association of National Advertisers. They set the agenda with their investigation into the programatic chain, and I’ve a hunch this will do the same.