Our funding strategy Tā mātou rautaki toha pūtea

Our investment strategy has three goals:

• Quality content – Local audiences watch, listen to and love local content that matters to them
• Diverse content – Local audiences connect with a diversity of content made by, for and about their cultures and communities
• Discoverable content – Local content is found and easily accessed in the places where audiences are

Public media funding must be granted for a clear cultural or social purpose, in addition to the standard expectation that content will captivate and/or entertain an audience. These objectives set public media apart from commercial media.

Our investment strategy is based on a cyclical process of four phases, each building on the previous one and informing the next. We believe that this model will help us achieve our strategic goals of funding high-quality, diverse, and discoverable content that fulfills our legislative mandate to "reflect and develop New Zealand culture and identity." Our strategy generates momentum towards the long-term endurance and vitality of our sectors by continually repeating this cycle.

The four elements of the strategy are outlined as:

Insights: Gaining deep understanding and insights into our audiences, their needs, preferences, and behaviours in relation to local content, and using this knowledge to inform our funding decisions and content strategies.

Capability: Building the skills, knowledge, and capacity of our team and our funded creators to adapt to changing media landscapes and emerging technologies, and to drive innovation and creativity in the production and distribution of local content.

Creation: Supporting the development, production, and distribution of high-quality and distinctive local content across a range of platforms and formats, with a focus on diversity, cultural authenticity, and excellence.

Discoverability: Promoting the discoverability and accessibility of local content through effective marketing, distribution, and audience engagement strategies, and leveraging the power of digital technologies to reach and engage with audiences wherever they are.

We are guided by nine investment principles:

1. Cultural value: We prioritise songs and stories that contribute to our rautaki Māori; support a range of voices and experiences, including those from varying ages, races, ethnicities, abilities, genders, religions, cultures, and sexual orientations; effectively communicate captivating social, cultural, political, or historical aspects of Aotearoa New Zealand; have strong appeal to audiences who are currently underserved with local content; and ensure that the key creative team has a deep understanding and connection to the stories and songs they wish to create.
   
2. Balance: We will continue to balance investment in content intended for both general and priority audiences, however, our primary focus is on public media content that highlights aspects of Aotearoa New Zealand that are less frequently covered in local media.
   
3. Risk: We will adopt a generous approach towards creative risk-taking and innovation in funded content while exercising caution when it comes to business risk.
   
4. Competition: We will support a range of content and creators, both to encourage multiple views and voices, and to encourage competition for the best ideas.
   
5. Value for money: We will use efficient processes and focus on cost-effective content with a reasonable shelf-life that attracts audiences of an appropriate size.
   
6. No duplication: We will invest in content and entities that add diversity to content already available and which the market alone cannot support.
   
7. Leverage: We will invest in content and entities that attract third-party investment (for market validation and to help offset the cost to the taxpayer). Furthermore, we will strive to leverage other aspects of our mahi, such as opportunities to fund content that brings together local screen and music goals and partnering with other funding agencies where possible.
   
8. Capability: We will give preference to content, creators and entities that are run or supported by capable partners. This approach enables efficient monitoring while maintaining robust accountability for public funds with minimal red tape. It is unlikely that investment support will be extended to unsupported start-ups.
9. Fairness: We will require accurate, reliable information from all applicants to ensure fair and good decision-making in a contestable environment.

Funding decisions for projects seeking $1m or under are made by a Staff Investment Committee. Projects seeking over $1m are determined by the Board.

Working with Māori in the screen sector

Ngā Aho Whakaari (the association of Māori in Screen Production) has guidelines for working with Māori in the screen sector to ensure tikanga is understood and respected.

Working with Māori in Screen Production

Drama and Comedy

We fund high-quality local drama for adults and children, innovative webseries, quirky animation, and many types of comedy.

Scripted content for Children and Youth

tamariki and rangatahi are key audiences for NZ On Air under the Broadcasting Act.

We fund content from drama and animation to webseries and games for young people of all ages.

We launched a new Children's content strategy in 2022, and we're developing a new Youth content strategy in 2023.

You can read more about the Children's content strategy here.

And you can discover the huge range of funded Children's content here.

Māori Scripted content

We make special provision for Māori content, as described in our Rautaki Māori.

Māori content plays a crucial part in our vision of connecting and reflecting Aotearoa.

Content development

Development pūtea tautoko helps content makers structure a concept; for example to develop treatments and scripts.

It is primarily for drama and animation projects, because these are high cost, high risk genres where more certainty is required before production funding can be considered.

Documentary and Information

New Zealanders have a strong appetite for local documentary and information content.

We fund quality, appealing documentaries and series, for different tastes and platforms, that use a mix of styles and story-telling techniques.

Specialist Current Affairs

Specialist current affairs is an area commercial platforms increasingly find difficult to support in a highly competitive market.

We only fund audio visual content, not text-based journalism, because we are the Broadcasting Commission and our mission under the Broadcasting Act is broadcast content. (Under the Act 'broadcast' includes content online.)

(Note that the time-limited Public Interest Journalism Fund did fund text-based journalism as it had a broader remit, but that fund ceased as at 30 June 2023.)

Non-Fiction content for Kids and Youth

Children and young people are priority audiences for NZ On Air. Public media funding ensures there is a range of content available for young New Zealanders that reflects and connects them.

Read more about the kinds of content we fund for young New Zealanders.

• Non-Fiction was formerly called Factual content

Māori Non-Fiction content

We make special provision for Māori content, as described in our Rautaki Māori.

Māori content plays a crucial part in our vision of connecting and reflecting our nation.

Spoken content (audio)

We provide funding support for priority genres to add diversity to the airwaves.

Our priority is spoken programmes on nationwide platforms to reach the largest number of listeners.