The BBC is to spend an additional £34m across the three years to 2019/20 on content for children.
The new investment will see the Children’s budget reach £124.4m by 2019/20, up from £110m today.
By 2019/20, a quarter of the budget, or £31.4m, will be spent online.
The BBC said this reflected the increasing share of children’s media time spent online and the increasing competition for their attention.
The BBC added that it will focus on a smaller number of stand-out titles for which it will commission TV series and high-quality brand extensions across all platforms. This includes live online programme extensions and clips, pics, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, quizzes, guides, games and apps.
Tony Hall, BBC Director-General, says: “We put children’s front and centre throughout the charter renewal process and today’s announcement reflects our commitment to our youngest audiences. We’re making BBC Children’s fit for the future, maintaining our world-class channels whilst enhancing our online offer to meet the needs of the next generation."
Alice Webb, Director, Children’s, added: “Our audience is rapidly changing and now more than ever we need to keep up. We’re home to the most popular kids TV channels in the UK, but as our audience increasingly move online it’s our job to stay relevant, inspiring and engaging them on whichever platform they choose.”
The BBC said the budget increase for children’s content would come from efficiency savings.
Staff Reporter
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