Argentina: Creating a viable audio-visual content sector for children
In 2010, the Government of Argentina adopted a legislation requiring that TV channels provide content for children for three hours each day, 50% of which must be Argentinean. Considering the market opportunity that this policy would create for producers of children’s content, the Government of the City of Buenos Aires became interested in developing a viable sector of national audiovisual content for children with an international business strategy at its core to create opportunities abroad for this type of content. It is in this context that the City of Buenos Aires sought technical assistance from UNESCO.
Following the new legislation adopted in 2010 by the Government of Argentina on domestic contents for children and youth, the aim of the project was to assist in transforming the City of Buenos Aires into a global hub for the production of independent Spanish-language audiovisual content for the global children’s market.
Drawing from the findings of the missions, the expert identified the following main recommendations:
- establish an annual conference to communicate about changes and trends in the content for children market
- commission new research on content consumption by young people
- create new business-focused mechanisms
- create training modules focusing on developing international relations and sales skills
- develop a new approach for supporting new starts-ups and micro and small businesses in children’s content
- undertake a skills review across the creative sector content
- work with the industry to foster a new dialogue with the national government
Please consult here a summary of the overall results of the missions and the future steps to be taken.
During his first country mission, the expert:
- held meetings with around twenty stakeholders (representatives of creative businesses, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Secretary of Culture and the Observatorio de Industrias Culturales);
- identified key issues to take into account when developing strategies for producers of content for children such as:
- business management models
- business ecology focusing on service provision and content creation
- the importance of changing consumption patterns
- export and international collaboration.
During his second country mission, the expert assisted the City in elaborating a platform intended to:
- bring together stakeholders to discuss the future of the market of content for children;
- improve the understanding of the relationships between content production and growth strategies through investment and export opportunities.
During the third country mission, the expert participated in the design and organization of a symposium:
- addressing key changes in the audiovisual content market in Argentina and other countries;
- identifying business responses in order to keep up with the constantly changing nature of the market;
- gathering stakeholders from different branches of the sector as well as different countries to share their experience, questions and ideas, creating a new network of creative businesses with an interest in developing sustainable business activities;
- lobbying the government to support innovative policy development for the content sector for children and stimulate closer alignment with other policy areas.