Final evaluation findings on the Young Audiences Content Fund

We’ve published the final evaluation findings for the Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF), which concluded its three-year pilot last year. The findings from the independent evaluation details the success of the pilot, with 61 new commissions for young audiences supported and 160 development projects backed over the course of the three years.

The YACF, which was managed by the BFI and funded by the UK government via the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), supported the development and production of new, unique and distinctive, UK-made content, on public service broadcasters and platforms, for young audiences in the UK. The final awards have also been announced and are listed below.

The evaluation report – created by external consultancy Bigger Picture Research – outlines how the YACF demonstrated social and economic value. The fund proved an effective lever in delivering high quality public service content for young audiences across different genres and techniques, contributing to a more plural landscape in the industry and directly encouraged additional investment for projects, targeting this age group.

The fund helped to address key deficiencies identified by Ofcom’s Children’s Content Review, including the lack of original, high-quality programmes for older children across all genres; the limited range of programmes that help children understand the world; the limited range of original, high-quality programmes that enable children to see their lives on screen. It also addressed a lack of animated content for older children and teenagers, which had been reported by Animation UK.

Key findings of the evaluation included:

• The fund effectively delivered on its aims and was found to be efficient, economic and fair.
• The YACF supported 61 brand new productions for young audiences in the UK. The programmes that have transmitted to date have enjoyed ratings success, secured a total of 36 national and international prestigious industry award nominations – with a total of 14 winners – and 13 of those shows have been recommissioned.
• It supported the development of 160 new projects, of which just over 9% have since been commissioned for broadcast to date (higher than the average 5% industry standard).
• The minimum Gross Value Added (GVA) from awarded projects is estimated at £319.6 million between 2019 and 2027 from a YACF investment of just over £40 million (which with other funding sources contributed to production activity worth c.£100 million), and programmes with international sales have a potential forecast between £23.7 and £40.3 million over the next 15 years. (GVA was estimated after removing broadcaster licence fees, which were already ring-fenced for spend on new young audiences’ content. The GVA figure does not include development activity or spill over impacts from tourism and merchandising.)
• Audience research has revealed an appetite for and a robust appreciation of programmes that reflect the lives of young audiences in the UK – 83% of young people surveyed thought YACF supported shows looked well-made and 75% said they would like to see more shows like them.
• 71% of development and production spend was located outside of London and the South East, on programmes reflecting life and telling stories from all around the UK. 10% of production awards and 7% of development awards supported new content in indigenous languages (Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic and Welsh).
• All production projects achieved the minimum requirement of meeting criteria of at least two BFI Diversity Standards, and every development project met at least one of the standards, while inclusion targets for the involvement of new voices in projects were met in full. 
• All the UK’s main commercial public service broadcasters and indigenous language channels were involved in funded projects, boosting plurality in the young audiences’ content sector.
• 85% of participating production companies have given examples of the positive impact their YACF award has had on business growth and commercial sustainability, new IP development, reputation building and talent development.
• To date, an estimated 6,976 roles for UK cast and crew were created by projects backed by YACF production and development funding, equating to 185,087 job days
• Commitment to in-work training opportunities plus mandatory contributions to the Skills Investment Fund has helped develop new and existing talent in the sector.
• 87% of YACF-supported production projects and 74% of development projects involved at least one type of innovation in either their content, production methods or distribution, discoverability and engagement techniques.
• Every YACF-supported project met at least two additionality arguments, most commonly that the usual sources of finance had already contributed to their limits and therefore YACF awards were essential to completing financing packages.

Detailing the fund’s high level of industry engagement, underlined by the 576 applications it received, the report confirms that with a total spend of £44.1 million, the YACF supported 61 new productions, equating to 287 hours of high-quality, UK commissioned content. As well as converting 9% of its 160 development projects into broadcast commissions, the YACF also saw 13 shows recommissioned across three years.

The report states: “The YACF pilot provided proof of concept that highly targeted contestable funding, administered with rigour within a clear framework of strategic priorities, is capable of delivering social and economic value as intended.”

The YACF has backed critically acclaimed and award-winning series such as COP26: In Your Hands (Sky Kids), Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (Channel 4), Big Boys (Channel 4), The World According to Grampa (Milkshake!), Teen First Dates (E4), Generation Genome (KMTV), Ted’s Top Ten (CITV), Makeaway Takeaway (CITV), Mimi’s World (Channel 5’s Milkshake!), Meet the Experts (Milkshake!), Go Green with the Grimwades (Milkshake!) and Tell Me Everything (ITVX), as well as projects in indigenous languages such as Run (BBC ALBA), Lachlan Boy at the Top (BBC ALBA) and Sol – a film on grief created for the Celtic language channels ITG4 (Irish), BBC ALBA (Scottish Gaelic) and S4C (Welsh).

This year, final awards included Dance School (w/t), a new 8 x 30-minute coming-of-age drama series from Duck Soup Films for Channel 4, and two shows for Milkshake!; Tweedy and Fluff, a stop-motion animated comedy, and MixMups, an animated pre-school series featuring a joyful on screen representation of disability to feature made by a team with lived experience of disability.

Re-commissions have included a second series of the award winning The World According to Grandpa, a second series of Meet the Experts for Channel 5’s Milkshake!, and a second series of Makeaway Takeaway for CITV.

The fund was also hugely helpful to the sector more broadly, with an estimated 6,976 roles for UK cast and crew created by YACF supported production and development awards, equating to 185,087 job days. A commitment to in-work training opportunities plus contributions to the Skills Investment Fund helped develop new and existing talent in the sector, while 85% of participating companies gave examples of the positive impact their award had on business growth and commercial sustainability, new IP development, reputation building and talent development.

The release of the independent evaluation is today accompanied by a final announcement of brand new projects which have benefited from the fund’s support during the pilot, including a recommission of drama Bex for S4C, an engaging and entertaining drama format which explores relatable topics such as mental health, a companion show to Generation Genome, Generation Why for KMTV, which will explore philosophy, critical thinking and ethics for teens, and Christy Bella – Weaving Time for BBC ALBA, a 15-minute Gaelic documentary following the experiences of a nine-year-old first-time weaver.

Development awards have supported a broad range of projects to extend representation and growing the range of genres, themes and ideas relevant to and for UK audiences. These include:

Set in a real-life North East castle, Ella and Sir Whoopsalot is an imagination-grabbing comedy series centred around the friendship and adventures of Ella Chambers and her best friend, Sir Whoopsalot – a one thousand-year-old knight! Ella is a vivacious, disabled, eight-year-old girl with an insatiable appetite for adventure.

A dark comedy-drama showcasing the backstabbing and bad behaviour of an Edinburgh-based youth orchestra.

Adapted from How to Be Autistic, an autobiography by Charlotte Amelia Poe – being adapted by writer Alex Clarke who has autism.

Based in Newport from emerging writer Darragh Mortell, the show will reflect a young Welsh community that is still lacking on television, with a specific Welsh sense of humour.

By new writer Georgia Christou. Set in a northwest coastal town, a story of young people in seaside communities that often get negative representation.

A comedy series about two pre-teen girls balancing year 8 with their crazily successful app – meetings with Silicon Valley investors interrupting maths homework! Funny and fresh, this supported two new voices from a female led company based in Wakefield.

Pre-teen Bola is supported through their struggles with their gender identity by hero and imaginary friend, Nigerian pop star Yemi. The writers are new voices in television.

A sitcom following the journey of 13-year-old Idris, a first generation Lebanese British Muslim boy with autism, and his everyday life at home and school during the mid ‘90s in Hounslow, West London.

Docuseries teaching a new generation of activists about the Greenham Common protest.

A game changing, radically inclusive, sex positive approach, this powerful series talks about sex with teens.

A 30-minute animated special set in the 1920s. The film tells the story of how a boy of ten (Moon) with Down’s syndrome who is bullied and ostracised by the inhabitants of a remote fishing village saves an orphaned dolphin who becomes his friend and companion. The Lighthouse Keeper will be played by Liam Neeson, who has also come on board as an executive producer. Sally Phillips is also executive producer.