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Screen Australia boss says his 18yo nephew isn’t watching broadcast TV

Funding body boss admits his own family isn't watching network dramas, but is hooked with online content.

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Graeme Mason, CEO of Screen Australia, says younger viewers are turning away from broadcast television and watching content online.

Writing in a blog he notes, “Look, there have been some really great TV dramas in recent years – Love Child, Puberty Blues, Paper Giants spring to mind – that have been really popular with audiences 40+, who are the bulk of TV viewers” he says. “They do well because they connect generationally with viewers.”

“With shows like these, Australian TV is killing it in terms of ratings and the networks have a lot to be proud of. The industry is doing great work and pulling incredible numbers for its core traditional audience. It’s much more engaged than our film sector.”

But even the CEO of the funding body that backs Australian drama says his own family members are bucking tradition.

“My nephew, who’s 18, doesn’t watch these shows. He doesn’t even own a telly! He watches online and doesn’t distinguish TV from online content. But what he’s watching isn’t Love Child and Puberty Blues, it’s more likely Bondi Hipsters and Mighty Car Mods YouTube series. And I think he’s pretty indicative of his age group.

“So while traditional TV drama is performing well with one audience segment, we’re losing a generation”, says Mason.

However he cites online content such as The Katering Show, Bondi Hipsters and stunt-laden comedy Versus as proving popular with younger viewers.

“If I were a distributor today, I’d be making short, edgy, info-based comedy with 16-30 year olds,” says Mason. “Comedy is something we all relate to. It’s how we like to think of ourselves. We’re quick to laugh and it’s a way to be inclusive and included.”

12 Responses

  1. All of the really good drama is on pay or on line subscription. Look at Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones etc etc. Imagine if these shows were only aviailable on FTA. That would solve all of their problems.
    It does not help FTA at all when brilliant mini series like Gallipolli (the whole series) are available on Stan even before the first eposide on FTA. Also 7 was to air the series Aquarius but are now only running it on Presto. Television killed radio, and the interent slit TV’s throat!

  2. That edgy info-based comedy is exactly what the Chaser do in the Check Out each week. They know their demo and how they want to learn. My 12 yo is obsessed with what she learns about consumer economics

    1. Yes. I was going to point out that this is what Hungry Beast and The Checkout do (and, to a lesser extent, The Feed) but ran out of space and cut it from my comment. I cannot see something like those shows appearing on the primary commercial channels, and it would have to be some cheap (ie new) to be considered for the youth-oriented secondaries.

  3. A former colleague of mine who knew people who worked for Channel TEN said that the people at TEN even download everything – they don’t wait – not even for the networks’ own shows which many would have access to previews for before they air.

  4. I was 18 quite some time ago but about 80% of my TV viewing is online now and I don’t watch *anything* on the 7, 9, or 10 networks, not even their catch-up services.

    It was the poor treatment of my shows, the unpredictable start times, random schedule changes, etc that drove me away rather than the online world attracting me towards it but now that I’m here, I’m not coming back.

    The mathematics of the OzTAM ratings system is only accurate if the sampling is of the whole statistical population; ie all of “Sydney” (however that is defined), rather than being biased toward people who watch commercial TV. Anecdotal evidence from personal experience and others suggests that people who watch hardly any of 7, 9, or 10 don’t get selected to be survey households or, occasionally, are taken off the panel if their viewing habits don’t meet certain thresholds.

    1. Spot on for me too (though if there were more than 900 characters here I’d argue the accuracy or otherwise of OzTAM ratings ;)…), and for much the same reasons. I think the networks have just as much to worry about from the 40+ crowd; anecdotally, a large chunk of the people I know have been drifting away from both FTA & Pay TV towards online for years.

      Graeme’s from Screen Australia though – his major worry is content production, not the means of distribution. If I were him, I’d be putting major effort towards helping Aus producers & content target Netflix et al. That’s where the growth lies.

    2. “It was the poor treatment of my shows, the unpredictable start times, random schedule changes, etc that drove me away rather than the online world attracting me towards it but now that I’m here, I’m not coming back.”
      Same here! I was 18 some 45 odd years ago and could not agree more. Apart from the above statement I would add the constant increase of ad break times + ads across the screen when watching my favorite shows.

      1. Oh yeah, screen spam! It’s been so long since I was last assaulted by that BS that I’d forgotten it existed.

        Don’t mention HD…

  5. ACMA and OzTAM reports show that while there is a decline in younger viewers watching live they still watch a fair amount on average. Lovechild was the second most watched show for 16-34s on Tuesday. 224k of its 816k, 30% of its overnights.

    I have a 50 year old friend who doesn’t own a TV either. Last time I saw him he was binge watching S2 of Prison Break on a laptop. The reason older viewers are increasing is the aging of the population and Baby Boomers retiring, or semi-retiring.

  6. Although I’m in the baby boomer demographics I was recently surprised how few FTA shows we watched when the Foxtel cable was soaked during the recent storms in Sydney.

    1. A lot of the blame for the so-called “screen spam” can be sheeted home to the A.C.M.A., the “supposed” regulator of the TV and radio broadcast media….. Regulator….Hah! The A.C.M.A. has been proven to be the most inept, incompetent regulator this country has ever had since the beginning of radio in 1923! If they did their job the way they should have, Alan Jones would’ve been sacked years ago from 2GB and our regional commercial stations would’ve retained their independent “local” identities and autonomy, among other things. A.C.M.A.? Phooey!

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