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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Emma Joyce

Why Australia has lost almost half its children’s TV as drama disappears behind paywalls

Still from Bluey, children's TV show
Bluey, the popular Australian children’s TV show. A new report by Screen Australia has found the average broadcast time dedicated to Australian-made kids TV has crashed, with commercial networks no longer commissioning original Australian shows. Photograph: Screen Australia

Bluey has been the most streamed show in the United States for the past two years, but this homegrown success story has overshadowed a stark decline in Australian-made children’s television, according to new research.

Screen Australia’s Screen Currency 2026 report, published on Wednesday, found that the average screen time dedicated to children’s TV broadcasting was 65 hours per year between 2021 and 2024 – a 42% drop on the average between 2000 and 2020.

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