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Distributed for Intellect Ltd

Producing Children’s Television in the On-demand Age

Much like the rest of the traditional television industry, children’s programming is undergoing a revolution. In this book, Anna Potter provides a detailed insider account of the creative circumstances that are transforming contemporary children’s screen content and reshaping the surrounding digital media landscape. Drawing on extended interviews with leading screen industry figures, Potter explores television’s distribution revolution and reveals how creative practices, funding models, and production norms in children’s TV have adapted to fit the changing times. 

Combining comprehensive case studies, scholarly research, and industry perspectives, Potter presents a rigorous study of success stories in the children’s screen production sector. The book explores effects on the industry from disruptions by streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube, and describes the challenges faced by public service broadcasters like the BBC in their efforts to stay relevant to adolescent culture in the UK. Interdisciplinary and informative, this volume is compulsory reading for anyone struggling to make sense of television’s distribution revolution and what it means for children and young people.


200 pages | 11 halftones | 6 3/4 x 9 1/4 | © 2020

Media Studies


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Reviews

"An engaging and provocative read. The book offers a detailed account of the creative, economic and regulatory processes that dictate the production of children's television today, via the first-hand accounts of content producers operating in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. . . . This book can be used as a lens through which to reflect on broader evolutions in media content production, and it is able to do so with unprecedented candour and insight directly because of its particular focus. Potter has uncovered a valuable entry point into increasingly opaque production cultures. Laden as this type of content is with expectations about its cultural, educational, social and civic significance, her interviewees seem to feel obligated to speak frankly about the creative and economic considerations they must face in pursuit of a sustainable business model and practice. This level of access is rare."

Alexa Scarlata, Journal of Digital Media & Policy

Table of Contents

Producing Children’s Television in the On Demand Age 

Representing Diversity on Public Service Media: Matchbox Pictures, NBCU and ‘The Show for Girls with Balls’ 

Netflix, Nickelodeon and the National: Jonathan M Shiff Productions’ Mako Mermaids and The Bureau of Magical Things 

The Making of a Netflix Original: Cheeky Little Media and the Australian Animated Series Bottersnikes and Gumbles 

Creating Streamable, Diverse Content for Children’s BBC: Drummer TV and the My Life Strand 

From Wellywood to Amazon Prime: Rebooting Thunderbirds Are Go for the Post- Network Era 

Streaming the Local with Contestable Funding: How New Platform HEIHEI Disrupted Children’s Media Provision in New Zealand 

Emerging Trends in the Distribution, Production and Consumption of Children’s Television in the On Demand Age

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