Parents’ Perspectives on Australian Children’s Television in the Streaming Era - 2

Australian Children’s Television Cultures (ACTC) is a research project based at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, in collaboration with RMIT University. To track and examine the screen viewing habits of Australian households with children, the ACTC team is conducting a four-year programme of audience research with Australian parents and legal guardians of children aged 14 and younger. Audience research surveys were carried out over the same six-week period (late August to early October) in 2021 and 2022, and will be repeated in 2023 and 2024 to capture viewing practices and interests over time. The survey topics included perceptions of what makes “good” Australian children’s television, how families with children use different screen media platforms, and the importance parents and caregivers place on diverse representation. The findings from the 2021 audience research were published in the peer-reviewed report “Parents’ Perspectives on Australian Children’s Television in the Streaming Era” in early 2022. This Research Summary provides key findings from the 2022 Parents’ Perspectives survey. This survey had 333 respondents. Only 10% of these respondents also completed the survey in 2021, meaning the 2022 survey provides a mostly new data sample largely unaffected by respondents having an familiarity with the topics and questions. To identify trends in screen viewing habits, the 2022 survey repeated key questions from the 2021 survey. It also introduced new questions on topics such as viewing habits during COVID lockdowns, the use of television in the classroom, SVoD features and functionality, and favourite genres.