The Children's Media Summit 2026 - Expression of Interest

This is an expression of interest registration, as places at the event will be limited. If your application to attend is successful, CMF will contact you with an invitation to register for a ticket. At this point there will be a small fee to cover catering costs on the day.

In 2024 the Children's Media Summit identified key issues which the children's advocacy community and the children's media industry believed should be put to regulators, policy makers and government. The Summit was a reaction to the significant shift in children's viewing from linear channels to online viewing and to social gaming. As YouTube, TikTok and Roblox dominate young people's attention, problems arise as to what they are experiencing on the new platforms, how that content is served to them, and how their relationship with more traditional forms - particularly public service content - is diminishing.

Younger children are being served huge volumes of content with little variation in style or approach, older children and teens' viewing is dominated by content which has little cultural relevance, does little to help them engage with the societies in which they live or reflect their concerns, and which is algorithmically served to maximise attention - often through promotion of conflict or extremes. There is no prominence on these platforms for public service content. There is no standard of journalism, which on other services is regulated.

At the same time the new platforms do little to support the production of high-value content in any genre. Revenue from advertising on the new platforms is restricted, and apart from public service budgets there is little “up-front” investment in content. The former eco-system is broken and not currently being replaced.

Children’s Media Summit 2026 will seek consensus from industry professionals, the maker community, the new platforms, and advocates for children’s well-being on how to repair the mechanisms which previously brought a range of stimulating, entertaining, educational and inspiring content to our children and teens. It will explore the potential for change in the way algorithms work to “improve the viewing experience for our children” as called for by the UK Secretary Of State for Culture Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy MP. It will consider the potential for regulation to back up such changes. It will also explore ways in which public funding could be increased to support investment in projects of personal and public value that can find an audience on the new platforms.

It will consider practical and actionable ways of achieving improvements in Funding and Finding – the two issues identified at the previous Summit. The outcomes will form the basis of new submissions to government and regulators - who will also be invited to participate in the Summit to bring their perspective.

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