Emily has travelled to Coffs Harbour for the Australian Children's Content Summit, and this episode is her dispatches from the ground — a series of short, sharp conversations captured across the event with some of the key figures shaping Australian kids content right now.

First up is Jenny Buckland, CEO of the Australian Children's Television Foundation, who gives the clearest account of what happened to the Australian kids content industry when commercial broadcaster quotas were dropped in 2020 — and why the timing, colliding with the global streaming disruption, hit harder here than almost anywhere else. Then Suzanne Ryan, founder of both the ACCS itself and SLR Productions, on why she started the summit out of post-Covid isolation and producer fellowship — and why it landed at 260 attendees when she was hoping for 60. The episode also features a conversation with Barbara Stephens from Flying Bark Productions, whose studio is navigating the shift from traditional commissioning to digital-first IP development — including the freshly launched Doom Sweeper music video, which crossed 3 million YouTube views in its first weeks — and the argument that proof of concept is now proof of audience. As well as a discussion with Tina Harris, Co-Founder of Lah-Lah Productions.

The thread running through all of it is the same one dominating kids media conversations everywhere: the traditional funding model is gone, the YouTube creator economy is thriving alongside it, and the most interesting opportunity right now is in the conversation between those two worlds.

Foreigns here.

And this is a.

Another episode of the Kids Media Club podcast, but it's a slightly different format to the usual show.

In this episode we're going to take a listen to Emily, who has been at the Australian Children's Content Summit and she gives her on the ground report and there's a.

A plethora of interviews with other people that are attending.

It's fantastic insight into.

Into the event and a lot of fun.

Hey, everyone, I'm here at the Australian Children's Content Summit in Coffs Harbour in Australia.

Came down here on behalf of the Kids Media Club podcast and I've just had the first session which was the stage state of the global kids industry.

And in the session I talked to Jenny Buckland, who is the CEO of the Australian Children's Television Foundation.

Jenny, you grilled me there, now I'm going to grill you a little bit.

That's fair.

Thanks for being a good sport about it.

But, you know, one of the reasons I came down to Australia and was so excited to get the invite from the ACCS was when I look at the output from Australia from a kid's content point of view, I just think there's so much quality.

Definitely, as you know, when we're in an English language market and when you're trying to compete with content from the US or the uk, countries like Australia, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand, we're all doing our best to kind of stand out against the big boys.

But Australian kids content has cut through for decades.

Since Skippy.

I always say H2O just add water was the show that converted me to kids content in a major way.

And they've also.

There's also been this really thriving creator economy coming from Australia.

Loads of kids, loads of preschool creators, obviously, Bounce Patrol, the Wiggles and then I'm chatting with loads of the other guys.

Mmm.

And every time I talk to one, I get introduced to another two who are all doing really well.

So what do you see as the state of the Australian children's media industry right now?

It's really in a state of flux.

I think the reason you've picked up on that quality content over decades is the way that Australia, for a couple of decades or three or four, really supported content on Free to Wear tv.

And it did it with a combination of.

We used to require the commercial broadcasters all to do minimum levels of Australian children's drama, and that was live action drama or animation.

They had to do minimum amounts per year as well as obviously having a public broadcaster as well who commissioned A lot of content.

And that created the H2Os of the world.

Those kinds of shows came out of the requirement that commercial broadcasters do children's content.

And not only did they have to do them, but then there was funding for them.

So there's the Australian Children's Television foundation investing in children's content, Screen Australia invested in children's content.

And there's a tax offset producer tax offset.

So we made it pretty viable to be creating children's content.

And there was decades of that and it went around the world.

And I would say that it filled quite a niche around the world, particularly in Europe, where a lot of public broadcasters didn't necessarily want to buy American content.

Yes.

And they would buy the Australian children's drama.

And so, you know, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, they were all buying Australian children's content.

And as soon as they didn't have to m, they stopped.

And they stopped because the kids had.

Kids weren't watching free to wear commercial television anymore.

And that was their argument to government, you're making us commission this content and no one's watching it.

Cause by this stage, YouTube and streaming and everything was happening.

So at the same time that the whole world was having this crash, Australia was therefore having this crash and it literally became the ABC is the only commissioner in some countries around the world.

They'd look and they'd go, oh, how fantastic, how lucky you are.

You've got a public broadcaster commission content.

But here everyone's like, oh, we've only got the abc.

So the amount of producers who are viable and successfully creating content has dropped.

And that's been challenging.

At the same time, as you've pointed out, there are a bunch of creators who have been busily green lighting themselves, doing stuff on YouTube.

There was a bit of a dichotomy.

The Wiggles is an interesting one because they actually started on television, transitioned incredibly successfully to YouTube.

And that also supports their whole strategy, which is concerts and touring.

And they go all over the world, particularly to the US and the UK as well as Australia with their concerts.

But there are all of these YouTube creators at the same time who've been pretty successful.

Also, Screen Australia invests in successful YouTube creators sometimes, which has helped some companies really lift Their game.

Yeah.

And I think we're just at that really interesting point now where there's a real crossover and where some of those YouTube creators are looking to try and do content that's perhaps a bit elevated and might be commissioned by a Netflix public broadcaster.

And producers who are doing that successful commissioned content are also looking to how can we improve the discoverability and the promotion of that content by going onto YouTube?

So we're at an interesting point, but it's a.

It's.

I'd say it's an industry where five or six really successful producers are getting most of those ABC commissions.

Yes.

And then as with anywhere else, as you can see here, there's heaps of people coming along wanting to break in, really wanting to break in.

And I think if they're wanting to break into traditional television, their best bet here would actually be to team up with an established producer.

They need to get to the abc.

They probably need to team up with an established producer.

Yeah.

But I also think some of the sort of YouTube original creators have got a really interesting story to tell in terms of their numbers and they and established producers could possibly have a lot to discuss with each other.

Other as well.

Yeah, that's one of the things I'm really excited about this week is that it feels like a real mix of creators and traditional producers.

Right.

Like nearly half and half, I feel.

And I think that is where some of the real opportunity can come through from.

Yeah.

Well, that's great.

Thank you so much for chatting to us and yeah, I'll be in touch with more dispatches from the Australian Children's Content Summit soon.

Hey, guys, I'm here with Suzanne Ryan.

She's the founder and CEO of the accs, which is the Australian Children's Content Summit that I'm down here in Coffs harbor for.

And she's also the founder of SLR Productions.

So really great to have you with us, Suzanne.

Thanks, Emily.

Really great that you're here.

Thank you for coming all this way.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot.

It's.

It's been a really awesome conference to absorb.

Very Aussie, nice chill vibes and the community down here in Australia, you really get a sense of how close knit and how friendly it is, which is lovely.

So what kind of inspired you to set up the ACCs?

It was coming out of the back of the fact that we'd lost our quotas with the commercial free to air broadcasters.

We'd been through Covid and we were still in a travel ban situation.

And so I felt myself As a producer, isolated from the rest of the world, used to going to lots of markets and having lots of opportunities to pitch shows and connect.

And I knew that a lot of Australian producers felt the same way.

So I thought, why not do the Australian Children's Content Summit for Australian producers to get together and we can travel interstate and then launch that.

And then it actually was bigger year one than I expected.

And so thinking, oh, maybe we might have about 60 people attend.

And that was straight out of the gate.

260 And was fantastic.

Yeah, that's great.

Congratulations.

And how has it evolved since then?

So it's, you know, from that year one, it was like, wow, okay.

Everybody really wanted to connect.

People wanted to have a place to come in the children's and family space and to be able to talk to each other.

And in that first year, I had really kind of, I guess, geared it to be more about being a traditional linear producer, which I am.

And there were a few people that had attended who were from the YouTube space.

And then I had one of the delegates, Tina Harris from La LA Pictures, Lala Productions.

Yeah.

So say to me, look, you know, would you consider doing a YouTube panel?

Because she comes from the.

You.

She comes from that YouTube area.

Yeah, I'm on the panel.

Yeah.

And so I was like, well, I was like, sure.

And she's like, I'll do it all.

Don't worry.

I'm going to get people to come from YouTube.

It'll be really great.

Other people like me have got YouTube channels.

And I was like, oh, okay.

And so you two.

We had some YouTube panels and some YouTube creators attend, and it was actually quite a big uptake.

And I was like, oh, okay, this is really interesting.

I was like, well, hang on a minute.

We don't have to just be talking about television, you know, traditional linear TV programs.

And then from that, it expanded to being like, if you're in feature films, if you're an investor, if you're a creator, if you're a writer, if, you know, wherever you are in the ecosystem, you should be coming and talking about children's content.

Yeah, great.

And so has the objective changed a little bit now?

Because obviously this isn't meeting that Covid need, but it's kind of evolving into something different.

I think that the objective is still the same.

People still need to connect.

Yeah.

As Australians, we still are far away from everyone.

And you're far away from each other and far away bit.

Yes, that's true.

Far away from each other.

And I think, like, what it's shown is that we have such a great, like industry here that is definitely expanding, has done such great work and sometimes you just need to be able to talk about what you do to understand that you're doing a great job.

Yeah.

And also with that, having people attend from all different areas of Australia.

Like we have all states of Australia attend.

We have lots of global, international people.

You're here.

Yeah.

And with that, everybody gets to talk about their great content that Australia is doing.

And it really puts us, you know, as the gold standard, which I love.

So, yeah, like listen, that's, that was part of the talk yesterday.

Like Australia definitely bats above its weight in terms of kids content and IP ownership.

From everything from Skippy to the Wiggles to obviously Bluey.

We can't, we can't go without saying Bluey, but also all the great YouTuber content you have coming out of coming out of Australia.

Thanks so much for chatting to us, Suzanne, and thanks for having me down here.

Excellent.

Thanks, Emily.

Glad to have you.

Let's go.

Hi everyone.

I'm here with Tina Harris from Lala Productions.

Now, myself and Tina have gotten to know each other quite well this week.

We did a panel together and Tina comes from the traditional TV production economy and is out all in on YouTube with her YouTube channel.

And there's been a lot of talk this week, Tina, about obviously the thriving Australian traditional kids media producers, but also the really thriving Australian YouTuber YouTuber community.

And like, I'd love to know what you see as that opportunity for those two folks to come together, given that you speak fluently in both languages.

Yeah, it, it's, it's.

Thanks, Emily.

Yeah, it's a funny kind of world we find ourselves in right now.

And it's kind of the, the collision of both industries and it's, it's this really interesting, exciting moment in the sand.

So I think for the TV people yesterday we were just chatting about some terminology.

So with TV we often say creatives in a project and with you YouTube, we often say creator.

And so it was, I think there was just this kind of moment of it's actually the same language we're all using.

And when everyone understands that creators and creatives are the same makes more sense.

I think that in the TV landscape, the talent and ability to tell character story led programs is, you know, it's been around for years and this industry does it so well in the creator economy.

Often we're used to looking to the algorithm first and the analytics and I think this is a great opportunity for creators to learn more about story and the narratives.

And it's also a time for TV to learn more about how to make content more nimble.

And this is something that creators can help traditional TV with.

Making faster, faster content.

That's not necessarily less quality.

It's.

It's just more nimble and more reactive.

Yes.

And It's.

It's a YouTube native kind of premium to it.

It's.

It's.

You know what I mean?

We're not talking about making TV series more quickly.

Probably not.

But it's testing and having that direct to consumer feedback that's actually really enforcing and means you can.

You're not just doing a proof of concept, you're doing a proof of audience.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's brilliantly put.

Awesome.

Well, it's been really great to meet you this week, Tina.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

Hi, guys.

It's day three of the accs.

You can hear it in my voice.

You can hear it in all the voices.

This has been a kids media conference and we all know what they're like, but we're two days post karaoke, so we're okay.

I'm here with Barbara Steven, the CEO of Flying Bark.

Barbara, it's great to have you on the podcast.

Thank you.

It's great to be here.

And yes, I'm also pretty husky right now.

This is where we are.

It's been so cool being down here.

I guess one of the things that's really struck me about the conference and it was one of the reasons why I wanted to come was, you know, the presence of super strong Australian YouTube talent that comes to this conference alongside super strong Australian traditional TV producers and folks who are kind of pushing into the world where those two things intersect.

I mean, that's been one of the things that I've been really excited about and it's been.

It's actually been discussed a lot at the conference over the last three days.

So I'd love to know your views about what the opportunities are for the tribe producers here to collaborate with the really strong YouTube talent that's here as well and what you're seeing for that as potential.

Yeah, I think that's what's really unique about the conference.

And I know that it had been discussed over the last couple of years and actually to have YouTube as a sponsor, which meant that even getting access to more people involved in the creator economy, I think that became more possible with that partnership.

I would like to shout out to Sabine Zonderland, who's been Here, been on loads of panels and she's an old colleague of mine.

So, yeah, they've really turned up and, and got involved.

Yeah, no, they have.

And I think bridging that gap, as you said, from, you know, particularly from a producer's point of view.

And we're probably the largest production company in Australia.

We have other studios in Madrid and in Los Angeles.

And I think it's, it's, you know, such an important moment for independent producers to be looking at what is that the entire ecosystem looking like for content creators and those who own their IP and are developing and investing in IP and what is the best pathway to finding your audience.

And so obviously now, with just the immense reach and success on YouTube, if we weren't having this discussion now, I'm not sure if we would be surviving in the next couple of years as businesses.

So I think this conference has been managed to bring together the worlds in a way where it's less intimidating as producers who've worked more in the traditional sense to actually start to unpack what would a digital first strategy look like.

And so, I mean, I think it's fascinating to see the success of so many incredible Australian creators in that space.

Yes, there was a really, there was a really good panel this morning, I think, because we've kind of been through it where we've had the producer panels, we've had the YouTube panels, but there was a panel this morning that was like, about the intersection of that, where a couple of producers who had kind of, you know, jumped the shark and had, you know, managed to find funding or are managing to find funding for productions that are going YouTube first.

I thought that was a really interesting, kind of like a good one to have on the last day of the conference of like, we talk to you, we talk to you now.

Let's talk together.

Yeah, no, it's great.

And I think as well just the fact that Screen Australia and the ACTF as well, but, but certainly I know from Screen Australia's perspective there is funding available for this in a way that can maybe reduce a little bit of that risk.

It's certainly not enough to fund an entire YouTube channel launch or anything, but certainly it's significant.

And I think when funding agencies start to look at providing incentives like that is because they are wanting to help producers to migrate to where the business is going to be.

And I think that's what's happening.

And seeing those incredible creators who've gone through this incubator process and had the opportunity to learn some skills around YouTube and sort of the back end as well as then applying their traditional sort of filmmaking skill set and then seeing the results of that as it's rolling out was really cool.

And you guys are dabbling a bit on YouTube too, aren't you?

We are, yeah.

So we've partnered with a great group of guys out of Atlanta.

Very fabulous, wonderful.

Olin Rogers, who is an incredible creator, creator of Final Space and had also produced a spin off proof of concept for a project called Godspeed.

And so I'd met Olin over the years and had been talking about how much I wanted to move into building out our audience first strategy and very much, you know, based around YouTube and, but really also I think looking at some of our, our working with our creators on IP that we felt that that had the ability to be sort of transmedia.

Yeah.

So and so the right type of.

IP, not just we're going to get this on YouTube because it's in our heads.

It's like, no, we actually think this will work on YouTube because it's got that, you know, it's got opportunity to extend to other platforms and stuff.

Absolutely.

And I think it's a creator we've known for a very long time has been instrumental, I think in helping shape our sort of 2D Western anime, very traditional style animation team and talent.

And so this is, I guess we've done a lot of very globally recognized shows in that space, but this was the first opportunity we felt we had to invest quite heavily, I would say, in a proof of concept, which was a music video and.

Plug it.

Come on Barbs, plug it.

It's called Doom Sweeper.

And you guys launched it like the last two weeks.

Yes, in the last few weeks we're over 3 million views on, on YouTube, which is amazing.

And well over that across all our channels.

Yeah.

But I think what's really cool was just the high engagement, you know, just significant excitement, fan base that we knew existed, but being able to bring them together and maybe off the back of, of the release of Avatar Aang, which, you know, Paramount's feature film which, which has just been so well received by the fan base.

And so it was a real moment for us to put it out and then see some of that hard work being, being kind of rewarded.

Exactly, exactly.

So yeah, it's very cool.

And then how does this put your headspace when it comes to collaborating with the traditional commissioners, the traditional, the traditional entities, those types of folks like you guys are seeing, you're pushing forward on the digital first side.

But like the Old, the old ways are still here and they're still up, they're still relevant.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think it's going to always come down to I think we want to be a little bit more discerning around who we partnering with for what project.

Yes.

And really understanding maybe on the traditional side.

Oh, this particular project feels like something that a public broadcaster or, or let's face it, a couple of public broadcasters would really get behind.

Yes.

It's an audience that we know they reach well and that, you know, it's a companion project alongside some other well performing projects on their platform or their channel.

I think for us, our studio probably we've produced a lot of content for older kids.

We're always going to be pushing on the older end of that and so it, it's harder to find, I think traditional broadcasters that are nailing that audience.

I really do think that and I think that's, I feel like they're really on YouTube and I feel like they're gaming a lot.

Yeah.

And so we're probably looking at IP and investing in ip that's going to play really well in that space where there's gaming opportunity and multi platform.

Exactly.

And I think that is our audience that we are always going to probably favor.

We are looking at some more younger content.

We've got a really terrific, much softer play preschool show which we've been pitching at the conference.

And, and that that particular project I think would sit beautifully with, with a more traditional podcaster.

So certainly making sure that in us when we're looking at content and if, if our teams actually decide what we make, we're a creator led studio.

So they decide on the development slate.

I'll decide on even whatever client productions we might be bidding on.

And, and I think it's just the keeping the passion led process in the studio and then finding the partner that reflects that back at us like, oh, this is, I love this show and I really want to, I really am going to do everything I can to make sure that from our broadcast side that you're going to get the resources, the opportunity to reach audience in a way and amplify what you're, what you're wanting to do with that project.

So it's kind of like courses for courses.

Yeah, yeah, I would say that for sure.

And I think what's difficult as traditional producers and I know there's some great examples at the conference is like how do I go from securing all of my finance up front before I'm green lighting to Maybe in the YouTube space where you take a little bit more risk.

You're going to start, you need to produce some work, some proof of concepts and try and build that fan base and then.

And have that kind of strength behind you.

And then what we found is, oh, then there's actually quite a lot of interest from all sorts of partners wanting to get on board.

It's like build a proof of concept to build a proof of audience.

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Melissa, thank you so much for chatting to us.

Thank you.

Cool.

All right, we're nearly wrapped.

That was fantastic.

Hope you guys enjoyed that as well as ever.

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