Children's television has moved online. Parents, be wary

A recent Ofcom survey highlighted the rapidly changing viewing habits of young people. As a first TV destination, Generation Alpha – kids born from 2010 onwards – is switching on YouTube before they watch the BBC on television. 

The first generation to have lived their entire life with BBC iPlayer (it launched in 2007; Netflix arrived here in 2012) have multiple streaming, Video on Demand, social media and video sharing services vying for their viewing. The entire concept of television schedules will have little impact on them in the future. 

“Scheduled TV is increasingly alien to younger viewers, with YouTube the first port of call for many when they pick up the TV remote,” Ed Leighton, Ofcom’s interim group director for strategy and research, said at the launch of the new report, Tuning into YouTube. 

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Bringing in Hacker T Dog as co-host of Blue Peter shows that the BBC is aware of the need to compete. He is set to be a smash hit on YouTube, where Blue Peter already arranges its content into playlists – Makes, Sports Personalities, Challenges and Gold Book Club.  

But the medium is the message. And the message coming from YouTube in particular is that there is unlimited content. Finished one video? Another will be along in 10, 9, 8, 7 seconds.  

So, by moving or re-editing content to compete in the new media landscape, the worry is that it can be a gateway to kids content of more questionable quality.  

The addictive nature of content made by Cocomelon, for example, which has 196 million subscribers, means it ranks highly and therefore appears as recommended content for kids.  

So even wholesome Blue Peter content could lead young viewers to the overstimulating and undernourishing content thanks to the algorithm. And if you’ve ever tried to block their content on YouTube, well, it’s not easy.  

So this power switch from parental choice to algorithmically controlled is making parents increasingly wary. At least on iPlayer, content will have been approved by a trusted public service broadcaster. On YouTube? Well, the whole world is on there.  

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