YouTube urged to promote ‘high-quality’ children’s programmes

The government has urged video platforms like YouTube to feature “high-quality” children’s content more prominently on their websites.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy warned young people are less likely to see programmes which are educational or provide “emotional and mental wellbeing” development as they increasingly watch via online platforms rather than traditional television.

Nandy said she had written to YouTube and similar platforms, as well as the regulator Ofcom, urging them to increase the visibility of suitable children’s material.

A YouTube spokesperson said it “provides kids and teens with safe, age appropriate online experiences that allow them to learn, grow and explore”.

But Nandy, who has a nine-year-old child, said online platforms were failing to promote the “widest range” of material. “[It’s] something that affects my family, like every family around the country,” she added.

She was speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, which was guest-edited on Monday by actor and Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Floella Benjamin, who has starred in several children’s shows over a decades-long entertainment career.

Nandy praised UK-produced children’s TV, saying it “helps inform [children] about the world”, but said online users often do not see it because it is not promoted by popular websites.

She said the government is ready to support the UK’s “crown jewels” children’s TV industry but a previous government-led funding scheme found that while more quality content was created, children “weren’t necessarily watching it and we think that’s because children were not able to find it”.

The government is seeking a voluntary agreement with online platforms, Nandy said, but signalled the government would be willing to take further action if one can not be reached.

She continued: “The intention is that we would much prefer for them to work with us to make sure children are able to see and find high-quality content much more easily.

“There’s something great about YouTube. It’s democratising, you’ve got these people who can start their careers from their bedrooms – and we’re very well aware of that but there is a balance to be struck here.”

She urged Ofcom to “prioritise children’s television” as part of their public service broadcasting review, which is due to report in the summer.

Benjamin said “television influences children’s thinking and behaviour” but warned its “quality and quantity” are in decline.

She used her guest editorship of Today to call for more emphasis on ensuring children have access to suitable entertainment, and said there was “crisis” and “turmoil” in the industry caused by children moving over to online platforms.