If Australia’s debate over streaming regulation were a Netflix series, it would be launching season six.
Unlike free-to-air and subscription television, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and the like have never had to make any Australian content. That changed with Monday’s national cultural policy, although viewers will have to wait for the final episode to see how it all pans out.
As part of the policy, the government has set a deadline of July 1, 2024, for imposing content quotas on the streaming giants, but crucially the actual numbers have yet to be determined.
At one end of the long-running debate, Screen Producers Australia wants the big streamers to spend 20 per cent of their revenue from Australian subscribers on local screen stories, and chief executive Matt Deaner welcomed Labor’s deadline.
“If done right, this will not only secure our industry but also mark the start of a cultural resurgence in bringing Australian screen stories to audiences here and abroad,” Mr Deaner said.
At the other end, the streamers feel they are already spending big making original Australian content, with the Heartbreak High reboot a recent hit for Netflix, and documentaries such as Fearless: The Inside Story of the AFLW on Disney+ proving popular.
Yet, compared with the flood of content streaming in from the rest of the world, shows such as these are a tiny minority, and easily missed on the scroll for the next must-watch series.
“The ready availability of mass content produced in other countries, particularly the US, risks drowning out the voices of Australian storytellers,” states one section of Labor’s policy.
Much of the screen content being made in Australia is for international audiences and is not recognisably Australian – the drama La Brea, for example, was made at Melbourne’s Dockland studios, but the story was set in Los Angeles.
For the screen producers’ peak body, it is the difference between Pirates of the Caribbean and The Drover’s Wife.
Both were made in Australia with the support of Australian taxpayers, but one is a swashbuckling American fantasy, the other a historical tale by Henry Lawson set in the NSW high country.
The debate is coming to a crunch as audiences switch away from free-to-air and subscription TV and towards streaming. In 2020/21, for the first time, Australians were more likely to be watching online subscription content than regular television.
Genres of particular concern include scripted drama, documentaries and children’s content – these programs can be expensive to make, and are easily replaced with overseas content.
To illustrate the impact quotas can have, here’s an example from regular, old-school broadcasting. The recent removal of content quotas for Australian children’s television resulted in half the number of local children’s shows in 2020/21, and of the seven titles commissioned during that time, six came from the ABC.
The government will undertake six months of consultation to determine just how big the quotas should be.
It has pledged the quotas will be imposed no later than July 1 next year.
