April 13, 2023
NZ On Air eyes digital path to audience
NZ On Air chief executive Cameron Harland says the broadcast funding agency isn’t going to worry about the “what ifs” or “what might have been” with the scrapped merger of Radio New Zealand and TVNZ.
He says it’s getting on with the job of supporting content that reaches as many people as possible across as many platforms as possible.
As part of the fall out from the merger decision, the agency has an extra $10 million to spend in the next financial year on reaching new audiences through cross-sector collaboration with RNZ, Whaakata Māori and Te Māngai Pāho.
He says digital online outlets are increasingly where youth audiences find their content.
“We need to build capability and capacity in the sector for those Māori creators, for those Pasifika creators, for those pan-Asian creators – so that the content they are creating can find it’s way to audiences,” he says.
Mr Harland says going through a primary broadcaster such as Māori television is still the first preference, but sharing all or some parts of programmes online will reach bigger audiences.