Australian children are being restricted from accessing local content, with algorithms dictating their online viewing habits.
New research from RMIT University has found youngsters were struggling to find local content among the flood of international options.
Dr Jessica Balanzategui said instead of channel surfing or browsing through a TV guide, Australian children today navigated complex streaming platforms and their algorithms to find shows, which was influencing their viewing habits.
Dr Balanzategui said their study involved talking to children, aged 7 to 9, and documenting their viewing habits and observing their daily routines.
She said most children tended to value algorithmic content recommendations, but they didn’t understand the underlying effects, including missing out on local content.
“Across research, policy and industry, we haven’t fully addressed the implications of kids’ screen time now being driven by children’s ‘on-demand’ viewing selections, which are mediated through algorithmic curation and platform interfaces,” Dr Balanzategui said.
“These are often driven by corporate strategies and interests that can restrict children’s access to the available local options.”
Dr Balanzategui said US-based global streaming video platforms Netflix and YouTube were the most popular, which had flow-on effects when it came to the children’s ability to find age-appropriate and local content.
Dr Djoymi Baker said platforms like Netflix and YouTube could operate as gateways to more mature content.
“Children sometimes saw platforms designed especially for them, like ABC Kids or ME, as skewing too young,” Dr Baker said.
“Once habits form around more mature content it can be difficult to draw kids back to the local content that’s being made with them in mind.”
Dr Balanzategui said local children’s television was important because it could help children connect with their own culture and surroundings, fostering an appreciation for their own community and country.
“However, parents generally didn’t see encouraging their children to watch local content as a priority given the many other complexities of raising kids today.”
She said this painted a worrying picture for the future of Australian content, with locally made Australian children’s television content decreasing by more than 84 percent between 2019 and 2022, shrinking from 605 hours to 95 hours.
Dr Balanzategui said making locally-produced children’s content more accessible and recognisable on streaming services needed to be addressed as an industry and policy priority.
“If local content was better labelled across the streaming platforms, or perhaps organised in a central hub, it would be easier for young people to discover Australian programs appropriate for their age,” she said.
