CFTPA Releases Study on Kids’ Content Production

OTTAWA, February 23: The Canadian Film & Television
Production Association (CFTPA) has released a new study showing a decline in
the production volume and budgets for kids’ programming out of Canada.

The study, The Case for Kids Programming: Children’s and
Youth Audio-Visual Production in Canada,
was prepared by Nordicity Group for the CFTPA, in association with the Shaw
Rocket Fund, the Alliance for Children and Television (ACT) and the National
Film Board (NFB).

The report says that Canadian children’s and youth shows
deliver strong audiences, generate local jobs and bring in “solid economic
returns” both within Canada and internationally. However, kids’ production
volume, which peaked in 1999/00 at C$389 million, fell to C$283 million in
2005/06. Further, kids’ programming has fallen from 22 percent of all Canadian
productions five years ago to 16 percent in 2005/06. In addition, between
1998/99 and 2005/06, the average half-hour budget of a Canadian television
production in the children’s and youth genre dropped by 11 percent, from
C$224,000 to C$200,000.

“A
joint effort by industry stakeholders, including producers, broadcasters, government
and funding agencies, will be needed to reverse the downward trends affecting
the genre,” the study said.