ABC doubles down on commissioned content

ABC has doubled its investment in commissioned Australian content in the past 12 months, while more viewers are turning to iview, particularly through the pandemic.

During 2021- 2022 it invested $177 million, up from $86m the previous year, which was heavily COVID-impacted.

This will result in an estimated total Australian production value of $321 million.

The total includes $33.67m for Drama, down slightly on 2020-21’s $36.3m, $26.4m for Children’s Content up from $14.9m, $52.6m for Factual / Documentary up considerably from $9.9m.

A further $64.5m is for Other commissions, including arts & culture, Indigenous (non-drama), sports & events, entertainment.

ABC primary channel content hours transmitted, first run, 6am – midnight (2020-21 in brackets):

Australian Drama: 44 (38)
Entertainment: 295 (315)
Factual: 128 (129)
Documentary: 66 (75)
Arts: 17 (5)
News: 2064 (2157)
Indigenous: 1 (1)

Broadcast television

As with broadcast TV more broadly, the reach of the ABC’s broadcast TV offering softened in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21, but iview use increased.

Metropolitan

The total ABC Network metropolitan average weekly reach in 2021-22 was 7.4 million people, or 41.6% of the five city metropolitan population, down compared to 2020-21 (7.9 million; 44.6%).

Total ABC Network metropolitan TV share during daytime softened in 2021-22. Across the four channels, ABC TV achieved a metro daytime total TV share of 20.0%, below 20.8% in 2020-21.

Total ABC Network metropolitan share during prime time also decreased in 2021-22 compared with the previous year. Prime time total TV share for the ABC Network across the five metropolitan cities was 13.7% in 2021-22 (14.8% in 2020-21).

Regional

In the combined aggregated regional markets, including Tasmania, total ABC average weekly reach in 2021-22 was 3.3 million people or 44.3% of the regional population. This was down compared to 2020-21 (3.4 million; 46.7%).

In 2021-22, total ABC regional TV share during the day increased to 20.0%, (19.5% in 2020-21). Total ABC regional share during prime time was 14.3% in 2021-22, a decrease from 15.0% in 2020-21.

ABC iview

ABC iview was up 17% to an average of 2.6 million weekly unique users. Time spent viewing also increased by 3 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes per week. 

ABC iview was the top broadcaster video on demand (BVOD) service in Australia in 2021-22, achieving a 24.9% share of total BVOD minutes viewed, up from 24.3% in 2020-21.

The number of Australian households with connected TVs surged during the pandemic. Smart TVs accounted for 72% of iview consumption in 2021-22, up from 59% in 2020-21– and contributed to strong growth in live streaming of ABC channels. Live-streamed minutes increased by 55% in 2021-22 on 2020-21, with a record set in August 2021 driven by COVID-19 lockdowns in some parts of Australia. Video-on-demand viewing on ABC iview also grew in 2021-22, with minutes increasing 42% on 2020-2021.

All program genres experienced growth in minutes viewed in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21. The most dominant across 2021-22 were ABC KIDS, drama and news and current affairs, with 75% of minutes coming from these three genres. Non-children’s program highlights for ABC iview across 2021-22 included Muster Dogs, Annika Series 1, Innocent Series 2 and The Newsreader. Top children’s programming included Bluey, various Julia Donaldson animations, Peppa Pig and The Wiggles series.

Following the introduction of Login to Watch ABC accounts in March 2022, mandatory logins were rolled out across ABC iview. Research by the ABC in June 2022 showed weekly active logged-in audiences grew from 60,000 to 1.4 million in the previous 12-month period. It also revealed that people who have logged in spend double the amount of time on the platform compared to anonymous users and engage more often to watch programs. 

Audio Described content
The 2022 Budget included an allocation of $1 million per year over the coming funding triennium to continue the Audio Description service and extend it to ABC iview.

This includes:

• 436 hours of drama, including features like Mystery Road, Barons, Fires, The Newsreader and Total Control (2020 – 21: 418 hrs)
• 349 hours of children’s content, like Bluey, Play School, First Day and Kangaroo Beach (2020 – 21: 190 hrs)
• 162 hours of factual programs, including Gardening Australia, Back Roads and Back to Nature (2020 – 21: 90 hrs)
• 144 hours of documentary, such as Outback Ringer, Muster Dogs, Love on the Spectrum and Australia Remastered. (2020 – 21: 108 hrs)

ABC Advisory Council recommendations:

• produce more drama programs like The Newsreader and Fires, that tell culturally diverse Australian stories, stories of lived experiences, and explore themes of Australian and Indigenous history while telling truthful stories
• address issues in drama that will be salient for the future, such as social and environmental issues
• employ cross-platform strategies to resonate with a wider audience, especially younger audiences
• encourage local news journalists to immerse themselves in the community so they are aware of the issues that are relevant to, and which connect, the community
• bring the community together with a mix of local news, discussion of relevant issues and uplifting content for audience members exhausted by natural disasters and the Covid pandemic
• increase targeted awareness of the ABC listen app, ABC iview and newsletter subscriptions.

You can read the report in full here.