Children’s Media Habits are Shifting

1/9/2025

Children’s Media Habits are Shifting – But What Does This Mean for the Next Generation?

Anita Frost spoke as a guest on the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 with Sean Farrington.

The programme was guest edited by Baroness Floella Benjamin and one of the key issues discussed was how more children are shifting from watching traditional TV from public service broadcasters, to unregulated streaming services such as YouTube and TikTok.

Speaking on the show, Bella Monkom of media research company Enders Analysis shared stats from Ofcom’s report showing that less than half of people aged 16–24 years old watched traditional (live and catch up) TV each week. The drop off for children aged 4–15 years old is similarly rapid.

In 2018, more than 80% of kids that age were watching traditional TV. By 2023, this dropped to just 55%.

Bella said: “The biggest challenge is underinvestment in the children’s TV industry at the moment. Spend from public broadcasters has been falling year on year to £74 million in 2023, down from £104 million in 2019 in real terms, and that’s led to a declining number of programmes being broadcast each year too.

Ofcom figures show that the volume of first run UK originated children’s programming on these PSP [public service provider] channels dropped to its lowest level in 2023 at just 467 hours, down from 640 in 2019, down from the thousands in 2006-7, and this is really significant.”

On the subject of how children’s viewing habits are changing and what is attracting their attention, Bella shared that children are watching much less traditionally broadcast TV content, which has declined by 70% in the past decade – almost 50% of that being in the last 5 years alone.

Viewing time is now going to more modern streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+. But a greater worry is that more than half of their time is going to TikTok and YouTube – which both rank higher than the BBC in terms of time spent viewing.

There are safety concerns due to these platforms being unregulated and growing concerns over the quality of content that children could be exposed to on them.

Sharing her input on these issues, Anita Frost said: “Kids are getting lower quality content than they would have done in the past…Green Bean Studios is founded on child development with over 20 years of experience. We’ve come into the market to be a resolution for this problem because our kids are lacking in the content that supports their development.

Green Bean Studios is multi-faceted so we’re moving in the spaces that kids need. They need wholesome toys, sound media, engagement with their parents and grandparents to help them grow, and [modern] media is not cutting that right now, and that’s why we’re seeing the fall and seeing our kids declining, not only in what they’re watching but how they're behaving.”

Anita also highlighted that a regulatory change is needed for kids content quality on platforms like YouTube. She said: “Looking back to the past when we had our original [TV] channels, family life hasn’t changed [since then]. Parents go out to work and kids go to school and then come home and it’s time to get the TV on, or grandparents looking after the children. But what’s happening in between?

Our kids are accessing channels which are not regulated – so that’s where the regulation needs to come in. Because kids do deserve to sit down after school and have that sound media. But who are your kids sitting with at the moment?
We need to do an education piece for the parents, for the grandparents, around these unregulated channels. Who are the creators? Who is sitting with your children when you are not sitting with them? It’s huge.”

It is clear there is currently a lack of high quality children’s content being created and broadcast on traditional TV channels. When asked what the issues surrounding this were as well as possible solutions, Anita commented:

“The whole landscape of a business getting into broadcasting has completely changed. We have to be disruptive about this. Ideally I think we need to create better partnerships. We’ve seen the retail world has completely changed. People are partnering – two businesses in one establishment to make rents and rates work.

We need to come together across the whole children’s sector – broadcasting, child development, child practitioners – all coming together to create something that’s wholesome and bring in YouTube and TikTok and educate them.

They didn’t design these platforms for the loopholes and problems they’re creating – we need to get together and save our kids. It's out of hand right now.”
Listen to the full show on catch up here:

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