‘Unsustainable': Alarming new stats reveal the sad state of Aussie TV
Australia's commercial free-to-air networks are spending barely half as much on drama as five years ago and 90 per cent less on children's content, new figures from the broadcasting regulator show.
In 2023-24, Nine, Seven and Ten spent a total of $1.842 billion on programs, according to the annual survey from the Australian Communications and Media Authority. That was down fractionally from 2019-20, when they spent $1.849 billion.
That tally was more or less consistent over the intervening years, but in scripted drama and children's television, the decline has been steep.
Five years ago, commercial networks spent $95.7 million on Australian adult drama. That figure has dropped each year since and sits at $48.5 million.
The drop in children's drama has been even more precipitous, from $11.66 million in 2018-19 to $1.75 million last year. The 'Australian children's other' category has dropped from $13.2 million five years ago to $1.34 million last year.
That means the total spent on local kids' content by commercial networks has dropped from almost $25 million five years ago to just over $3 million.
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Those figures represent the contributions of the networks to the cost of making content, rather than total budgets. Nonetheless, they lay bare the precarious position of Australian scripted content, despite the streaming boom.
Screen Australia's most recent drama report found the total budget on Australian drama (including comedy) in 2023-24 was $657 million. Of that, $188 million was for the FTA networks (including ABC and SBS/NITV) and their BVOD platforms. The bulk of the remainder was commissioned by the streamers.
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