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The Children’s Media Summit ’26 – Timetable

9:15	Registration Tea / coffee on arrival
10:00	Welcome and opening remarks Donna Mathews Executive Director of Engagement, Marketing and Communications, BAFTA Laura Henry-Allain MBE Board Member, The Children’s Media Foundation
10:15	Opening Keynote: Baroness Beeban Kidron
10:30	Panel: Ban or Build Better? Why do children’s media experiences matter? Opening up the debate around a social media ban and considering young people’s right to autonomy and quality online. Exploring the idea of curating children’s media experiences to ensure they have access to safe, life-enhancing and nourishing content. Moderated by: Emma Scott Chair, NSPCC Presentation: Dr Ashley Woodfall Associate Professor of Children’s Media, Bournemouth University Speakers: Matthew Burton Head Teacher, Thornhill Community Academy Jiella Esmat Founder & CEO, 8 Lions Guy Holder Co-founder, Set@16 Professor Sonia Livingstone Director, Digital Futures for Children Chris Sherwood CEO, NSPCC Produced by: Jackie Edwards
11:30	Break
11:45	Panel: Value Judgement Identifying high-value content and helping children find it. We all want children to have access to the best possible media experiences, whether you are a parent, policymaker, producer, creator, or any combination of those roles. But how do we decide what positive media experiences look like? The panel will discuss how to identify value in children’s media content and how that approach might work in practice, from the perspective of both public policy constraints and technological challenges. Moderated by: Gary Pope Director, Kids Industries Presentation: Tim Burge Associate Director, Dubit Speakers: 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 Produced by: Colin Ward
1:00	Lunch at BAFTA
2:00	Keynote: Delivering Public and Personal Value With the Charter Review under way and a new agreement announced between the BBC and YouTube, Patricia Hidalgo, Director of BBC Children’s and Education, reflects on how the BBC has adapted its strategy to a changing media landscape and outlines its vision for the future of producing and providing rich, relevant and varied content for young people. As delivery of tailored content on platforms like YouTube and Roblox is set to extend the BBC’s reach amongst the young, what are the implications for the future of the children’s media industry and the Corporation’s public service responsibilities? Max Goldbart International TV Editor, Deadline Patricia Hidalgo Director of Children’s and Education, BBC Produced by: Greg Childs
2:45	Panel: Commercial Realities As the audience migrates and ad-funding collapses, how can producers and platforms adapt to the new market? Children’s linear broadcasters are investing under 30% on original commissions, streamer appetite for kids’ content has reduced and YouTube advertising revenue is not making up the deficit. So who will actually fund the next generation of children’s media? How can the UK build a sustainable, commercial ecosystem to fund high-value content for the audience, before it’s too late? Moderated by: Jen Topping Consultant and Writer Speakers: Jonathan Chambers Director of Investment, Generation Media Nicky Cox CEO, Children United and Fresh Start Media Dan’l Hewitt Head of Global Business, Moonbug Entertainment Jamie Spafford Co-founder / Head of Partnerships, Marketing and Comms, Sorted Kids / Sorted Food Produced by: Jamila Metran
3:45	Tea / coffee break
4:15	Panel: Funding the Future Setting up a new Young Audiences Fund. 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. The panel will discuss the benefits of additional seed-funding into the ecosystem to replace the drop in ad revenue and the loss of commissioning budgets at the commercial PSBs and Sky. Moderated by: Susannah Dinnage Chair, British Screen Forum Speakers: 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 Produced by: Helen McAleer
5:15	Concluding Remarks Sarah Joyce Executive Group, The Children’s Media Foundation Head of Unscripted and Children’s TV, ScreenSkills Greg Childs Director, The Children’s Media Foundation
5:30	ScreenSkills drinks reception
7:30	Close