Dive Brief:

• The BBC is planning on investing $44 million in children’s programming over the next three years to combat digital media giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Netflix per CNBC.
• The investments will be spread among a variety of areas including multimedia content like video, live online programming, video blogs, games and apps along with interactive content designed to get its audience to “create, connect and share,” as reported by CNBC.
• The need for the investment comes from the understanding that younger demographics, including children, are “consuming media in different ways” according to the BBC.

Dive Insight:

Traditional media companies like the BBC are facing a challenge in reaching audiences, especially younger demographics as these groups continue to move away from linear TV in favor of digital options and mobile screens. The BBC said in the CNBC report that children’s watching time for linear TV is down significantly and that YouTube reaches around 70% of 6 to 12-year-olds.

The BBC audience is changing, and even though it airs the most popular children’s TV programming in the U.K., that audience is increasingly moving online, said the BBC's Children's Director Alice Webb, adding it was the media giant’s “job to stay relevant, inspiring and engaging” to that audience on whatever platform it chooses.

Another study cited by CNBC from Trendera points to another digital challenger, with teenagers watching around 2x as much Netflix as live TV, and even more watching YouTube.