‘Family friendly’ TV shows luring children out of their bedrooms
Parents battling to spend quality time with their phone-obsessed children have found a new ally — a swag of motley prime time TV shows luring the kids out of their bedrooms and on to the couch.
NSW
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A swag of motley prime time television shows are luring children out of their bedrooms and onto their couch with mum and dad.
The Masked Singer, LEGO Masters, Gogglebox and Australian Ninja Warrior have been turned into ratings hits by young people in control of the TV remotes.
And TV executives are touching down in France this weekend for the annual international television trade fair MIPCOM in search of similar physical entertainment shows to add to their prime time programming.
Provoking huge interest in that category is family challenge show Don’t, from Deadpool star turned TV producer Ryan Reynolds, another stunt-based program called The Crystal Dome and a reboot of the family classic It’s A Knockout.
Industry insiders last week claimed a recent spike in family viewing habits in the Australian market was in part being driven by Australia’s booming migrant population.
It’s a big win for TV networks who are competing with streaming services and the increasing number of young people who prefer to binge their favourite shows on a small screen by themselves.
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“Young migrant families want to sit down together when they get home from work and school and spend an hour together watching well-produced, good quality, PG-rated television,” said one veteran TV executive.
“In that way they’re no different to anyone else. They want to see some wholesome entertainment that allows them to sit with their kids — that’s really good news for the TV industry.”
A 10 spokesperson confirmed 10 is celebrating after South-Korean knock-off singing show The Masked Singer, starring radio star Jackie O, Dannii Minogue and Lyndsay Lohan, lifting Ten’s young under 16s audience by 11 per cent since its launch two weeks ago.
“In the last three weeks, 10’s audience is up 11 per cent in children under 16,” the spokesperson said.
“This rise is due in part to family friendly The Masked Singer and our focus on digital and social media to engage our young audience.”
To capitalise, 10 will launch The Amazing Race and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! in future months.
Ratings figures across the board show LEGO Masters, on Nine, was the most popular program with children under 17 in the year to date.
One quarter of the LEGO Masters audience of 1,313,000 viewers (average, all people, five capital cities) were aged under 17 equating to 325,000 young Australians.
Second most popular with the under 17s market in 2019 was Australian Ninja Warrior, also on Nine, which brought in 201,000 young Australians, then came The Voice with 138,000 under 17s.
Next was 10’s The Masked Singer with 116,000 under 17s, followed by Australian Survivor, with 97,000, I’m A Celebrity, 91,000, then Nine’s The Block, Seven’s My Kitchen Rules, and Foxtel’s Gogglebox.
A Nine spokesperson observed that PG-rated family programming drives advertising and is a boon to television sales teams.
“If you can capture the kids, you can capture their Under 55 parents — and that’s the golden demographic in television land — the Under 55s.”