The Children’s Media Summit ’26: Funding The Future
If the UK is to continue to create high-value media content for our children and young people then producers and content creators have to be able to carve out viable careers from their work. One of the consistent ‘asks’ in submissions to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Inquiry on children’s media has been a new Young Audience’s Content Fund. In the fourth and final session of the Children’s Media Summit 2026, CMF executive group member Gregory Boardman listened in as the panel discussed how to fund the future.
Moderator:
Susannah Dinnage Chair, British Screen Forum
Panellists:
Jackie Edwards Consultant / former Head of the BFI Young Audiences Content Fund
Oli Hyatt Managing Director, Blue Zoo
Joan Lambur President, Lambur Productions
John McVay CEO, PACT
Panel: Funding the Future
Resource for development and production of high-value media content for children and young people has been in steep decline over the last two decades, largely as direct result of government policy. If the UK is to continue to create high-value media content then new resource is required.
Key Takeaways from the Session
- The need for intervention is desperate. Government, BBC, commercial PSBs, Streamers and VSPs should all participate in addressing the problem -there is an urgent need for structural sector reform
- An estimated £100M a year has been lost from the children’s production economy.
- BBC spending on children has fallen at a greater rate than spending on their mainstream output.
- New funding (rather than displacement of existing funds) is needed, but public resource is currently scarce. Given the industrial, cultural and social consequences of the collapse of the sector, doing nothing is not an option.
- Government needs to make some political choices regarding our young people. The stakes are higher than economics alone.
For those passionate about locally relevant, culturally specific content, the idea that content could be dependent on commercial broadcaster philanthropy, is a genuine cause for alarm.
Thankfully, Jackie Edward’s brief summary of the Young Audience Content Fund evaluation provided a glimmer of hope; a hint at what might be possible. The YACF Pilot not only delivered cultural and social value but also returned over £10 of value back into the economy for every £1 invested (excluding broadcast re-licences, L&M etc), and very specifically delivered on current stated DCMS Priorities. The IP generated still belongs to its UK producers and is part of the Creative Sector’s growth story.
If there was a problem with the fund then it was likely to be the fact YACF was launched into an arena where audience habits had already irrevocably shifted. There is much to learn from the fund and some sensible recommendations about how a YACF 2.0 might be utilised were made. The question remains as to why the fund was closed before the evaluation was actually completed. It’s worth taking some time to read the evaluation in full.
The YACF was introduced into a market where spending on children’s content had already collapsed. It fell to Oli Hyatt to process the real terms reduction in content spend as 71%. Oli also highlighted the fact BBC spending on children had fallen at a greater rate than spending on their mainstream output. Oli’s narrative of managed decline hit an emotive chord when challenging us about whether ‘we now care less about our children’ but ultimately, he offered his analysis as a practical exercise in trying to quantify the size of the funding problem. Overall, Oli estimated children were owed over £100m in content. Having accepted the benefits of tax breaks and assuming a refreshed commitment towards BBC spending, he suggested any new fund ought to benefit from £35-40m annually.
Session chair, Susannah Dinnage reinforced the notion that we are facing a true crisis drawing on a key point from earlier sessions that the children’s sector has suffered fallout from government policy changes over time. Jackie Edwards indicated that the size of the UK problem might be more in the region of £75m given Ofcom’s historical, unadjusted data (not taking into account inflation!).
The panel was certainly unanimous in suggesting that funding was desperately needed and an issue to be shared; a problem for the BBC (the single biggest commissioner of children’s content), streamers, VOD platforms and government to share. Oli and John McVay came together to highlight the fact we must look for a transformation and a profound structural change. But what will real structural change actually look like? And how can it be achieved?
John McVay was clear that whatever the solution for children’s, we should be mindful of cutting into or displacing funds that already existed and be realistic of the current state of public finances whilst not jeopardising the billion-dollar upside of the current tax regime.
The idea that the money should follow the audience was a key theme two years ago but Michael Rose speaking from the floor was keen to stress the fact that producers were not succeeding to monetize on YouTube. John McVay also stressed that tax credits don’t help if there is no funding in the first place; the tax credit system was not based around a self-funded model.
It’s little consolation that Joan Lambur suggested, after a good run, Canada was in a tougher spot than the UK with ‘everything imploding’. Despite her assessment, having taken in the various ideas and thoughts shared by the panel, she claimed there was cause for optimism. Maybe, the ultimate quality needed to be a producer in the children’s media space is optimism. With the creative sector sitting inside the UK government’s industrial strategy, with the YACF demonstrating potential for growth given GVA figures (excluding re-licensing and exploitation via L&M) indicating £10 of upside for every pound spent, and with the YAC funding offering better returns than tax credits, there could be a genuine case for optimism but whilst the solutions are ‘out there’.
Oli Hyatt noted that government would need to make some political choices regarding our young people, a sentiment echoed from the floor: this is about more than economics with children’s wellbeing, sense of belonging and ultimately democracy at stake.
Watch the full session here:
The Children’s Media Summit ’26: Commercial Realities The Future of the BBC