Programming children’s television in Denmark

This Monday, my wife will hand in her magnum opus (aka master thesis) Orv, det’ for børn! Programlægning af børne-tv på danske public service-kanaler [“Waow, it’s for kids!” Programming children’s television on Danish public service channels] at the Department for Media Studies, University of Copenhagen. The thesis is about Danish public service broadcasters’ programming of children’s television and builds upon interviews and a thorough analysis of ratings. As far as we know, no such study has not been conducted in a Danish context before. By request from one of her interviewees, the thesis is not publicly available but I’ve been granted permission to post what I consider the most important paragraphs from the abstract here on the blog:

Ramasjang was an absolutely necessary initiative for DR who would most likely have lost the youngest audience without a children’s channel, because children do not bother waiting for programmes for them on the main channels. Public service television and Danish programmes, however, offer something else than the commercial channels and are as such important to keep as an alternative.

Concluding, I argue that DR ought to have two differently targeted children’s channels as Ramasjang has troubles serving both the 3-6 and 7-10 years old children. That way, DR would be able to program for a better flow with high ratings and simultaneously prioritise both audience groups equally just as the public service idea lies down.

I, of course, am in no position to objectively judge the quality of the work nor grade it – but I must say that I’m impressed by this piece of work. Congratulations, honey!