In part, this is due to the broadcasters retreating. “All kids viewing used to be with broadcasters, but they’ve taken their foot off the pedal over the last decade, more so than any other genre, because you can’t really monetise kids’ content,” says Tom Harrington of Enders Analysis. “There’s not much you can advertise against it, kids 0-4 viewing isn’t measured, and kids don’t really need new content because they love watching the same thing again and again so there’s no point commissioning 50 new episodes of Fireman Sam.”
“The kids don’t know what her politics are and if the kids watch and they’re quiet then I think that’s more powerful than probably any political belief,” says Harrington. “I would argue that you’d have to be quite a resilient person to say, well, I’m not going let the little ones watch that. I’d just prefer if they screamed for the next four hours.”