Australian Government to Prevent Storytelling from Being Drowned Out

Streaming services in Australia will soon have access to a wealth of fresh locally produced materials as a result of new regulations enacted by the government.

Streaming powerhouses such as Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and Netflix will be forced to make financial investments in the production of Australian-made content.

Around the middle of the year 2024, the new laws will be put into force, at which point streaming giants will be required to invest a portion of their revenue towards film and television productions originating in Australia.

The modifications will bring the local content quotas that now apply to free-to-air networks such as Ten, Seven, and Nine into line with those that apply to streaming services, which will bring the streaming industry in line with those networks.

Primary television stations in Australia are required to air a minimum of 1460 hours of locally produced programming between the hours of 6:00 am and midnight, while secondary television stations are only required to air a minimum of 460 hours of locally produced programming during the same time period.

The Revive policy posits that the Australian local subscription video industry will grow 50 % in 2021 to USD 1.7 billion in total revenue, and it has been seen that Australians are now watching more content on streaming platforms than via traditional broadcasters.

The specifics of the local-content strategy for streaming giants have not yet been disclosed, but the Australian film and television business has requested that 20% of the content be produced in the country.

Tony Burke, Arts Minister, said that while streaming powerhouses were already freely producing local content, it should be necessary.

Burke said we had seen a continuous decline in Australian content users with what traditionally was expected on free-to-air.