Bluey or Masterchef? New ABC boss wants global hits from the broadcaster
Presenting his vision for the organisation on Wednesday, Marks said the ABC needed to make global hit shows while maintaining its local radio and news services.
'I mean, I always think of MasterChef. It came from a UK format, but the real derivation was in Australia, and it makes a billion dollars in revenue a year. If we had one of those successes, and we're able to participate in that success, that will be a revolution in funding.'
While the ABC missed out on the commercial revenue benefits of Bluey – which are owned by the BBC – creating its own version of a global franchise like MasterChef could become a funding revolution for the ABC, Marks added.
'If we're able to create two more Bluey in the next five years, our children's content and our children's services will have strong foundations for a long period of time.'
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Marks added the investment needed to make 'premium' content could be clawed back by chopping underperforming programs, a process that has already started since he joined the ABC five months ago. On Wednesday, Marks said he had already freed up $25 to $30 million to reinvest into original podcasts, new screen content and a new documentary unit.
'If there are things that we think the money is not wisely spent on, then we need to be prepared to make those hard decisions. I've said that in every staff meeting I've done, and I think that we will continue down that path.'
One of those decisions was cutting Q+A has, bringing an end to one of the ABC's most transformative formats of the past two decades, which had recently strayed into obscurity, both with its weekly audience and cultural and political influence.
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