Media Release

Drama spending remains unsustainably low despite marginal gains in kids’ content. 

Screen Producers Australia (SPA) has responded to the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) latest Commercial TV Program Expenditure Report, warning that the figures once again confirm commercial broadcasters are not delivering on culturally significant genres—particularly scripted drama for both children and adults. 

The report shows commercial networks spent just $1.8 million on children’s drama in 2023–24—up marginally from zero last year, but still a staggering 98% collapse compared to 2018–19. Spending on adult drama remains flat at $49 million, down from $96 million six years ago, and now accounts for less than 3% of total CTV expenditure. 

“These figures continue a pattern we’ve warned about for years,” said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner. “The slight increase in children’s drama investment this year is statistically meaningless. Both adult and kids’ drama remain at unsustainably low levels. We cannot expect Australian stories to thrive without real structural change.” 

SPA emphasised that this is not an isolated failure—but rather, one part of a broader erosion of culturally significant content investment. “Drama is just one of several genres where commercial funding has been allowed to wither, with no other part of the system stepping in to fill the void,” Mr Deaner said. 

SPA is calling for urgent policy intervention to address this failure, including: 

• Legislated, revenue-linked local content investment obligations on SVOD platforms, leveraging the vast reach and profitability of global platforms to reinvest in Australian creativity; 
• Increased ABC and SBS funding, specifically for independently produced children’s and scripted content; 
• Producer Offset parity for television and feature films, to level the playing field for local stories; 
• Top-up investment for Screen Australia, to support documentaries, regional stories, and emerging creators. 

“It’s time to regulate all streaming services and reinvest in our national broadcasters,” said Mr Deaner. “That’s the only way to restore balance in a market that’s now skewed almost entirely toward live sport and low-cost formats.” 

The 2023–24 report builds on concerns SPA raised last year, when children’s drama spending hit zero for the first time. Despite repeated warnings and clear evidence, the structural imbalance remains. This sustained underinvestment has real-world consequences—not just for audiences, but for Australia’s independent production sector, which relies on fair access to commissioning opportunities to support jobs, skills, and enterprise growth nationwide. 

“This is not just concerning—it’s predictive,” Mr Deaner said. “This is what happens when regulation is dismantled and nothing replaces it.” 

SPA also called for greater cross-platform transparency in content reporting. “To get a full picture of Australia’s screen ecosystem, we need like-for-like expenditure data across all platforms—including streamers and public broadcasters,” Mr Deaner added. “Only then can we properly assess who is contributing to Australian storytelling—and who isn’t.” 

SPA’s 2025 Policy Platform outlines a clear roadmap to revitalise the sector by realigning incentives, obligations, and public investment with today’s digital reality. 

“We’ve had enough evidence. What we need now is action,” said Mr Deaner. “With the right reforms, it’s still possible to turn the tide. But left alone, the system will not self-correct.” 

Read the full report HERE.