The Children’s Media Summit ’26: Value Judgement
The second session at the CMF Summit ’26 was all about identifying high-value media content for children and young people and then ‘surfacing’ that on the platforms where they watch. CMF Deputy Director Colin Ward and Executive Group member Michael Rose OBE listened as the panel discussed what is a ‘high value’ media experience?
Moderater:
Gary Pope Director, Kids Industries
Research Presentation by
Tim Burge Associate Director, Dubit
Panellists:
Japhet Asher Director, Polarity Reversal
Dr Claire Essex Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Creative Computing Institute, University of the Arts London
Natasha Irons MP Member of Parliament for Croydon East / Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee
Maddie Moate Presenter, YouTuber, Author
Lucy Murphy Content Strategist
Here are some ideas that came out of the discussion…
- Dubit Research with 10- and 11-year-olds suggested an important feature in ‘high value’ media experiences for that age group is the freedom to choose something that is a special interest for them as individuals, which could be anything from a gymnastics demo to a home DIY project.
- Children need to be engaged in their media through comprehension and not sedated into a viewing habit.
- High-value media experiences should always connect children to the real-world around them in some way, even if that is simply sharing jokes and stories with friends in the playground.
Probably the main takeaway is that everyone agreed it would be a complex and difficult process, but necessary if we want to build a new ecosystem that gives children positive, life-enhancing media experiences.
Member of Parliament and DCMS Select committee member, Natasha Irons, agreed that not all screentime is equally valuable and when she looks for content for her children she wants there to be a story that has a beginning, middle and end. Maddie Moate made the point that detailed and accurate content for kids takes time to create, because good research is essential. Dr Claire Essex highlighted the importance of age-appropriate content that can ‘scaffold’ children’s learning and development. That is something she is researching using technologies such as eye-tracking to monitor a child’s immediate response to content.
Lucy Murphy explained that, for a commissioner, identifying content of value to the audience is a robust process that will always be complex and nuanced, considering the needs of children and parents, as well as things like the potential for building a community around the content. It’s also important to identify where there might be gaps in the current provision that suggest an opportunity to serve an audience group that might be neglected.
Japhet Asher confirmed that the CMF is currently working on a framework that breaks ‘value’ down into eight themes with a range of specific attributes. The CMF’s ‘Value Framework’ is in the early stages of development, but it is hoped it will eventually demonstrate a way to automate value assessment of media content at scale.
Gary Pope asked the panel to consider what might be some practical next steps to promote high-value media content. Natasha did not want to see governments telling children what they should watch, but we have regulation of other products, such as toys, so perhaps there is a way to make sure the right ingredients are going into children’s media content.
And there was general agreement that government needs to move a lot faster when it comes to legislation to make sure the pace of digital change doesn’t make a law redundant before it even gets on to the statute book.
Watch the full session here:
The Children’s Media Summit ’26: Ban or Build Better? The Children’s Media Summit ’26: Delivering Public and Personal Value