Children’s Global Media Summit attracts industry leaders to Manchester

19th December 2017

Categories: Latest News

Senior media executives from across the world visited Manchester for a landmark summit on the future of children’s media and digital content.

Speakers at the Children’s Global Media Summit 2017 included the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, BBC Director-General Tony Hall, Greater  Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and representatives of YouTube, Facebook and TalkTalk.

Hosted by Manchester Central, a central theme of the Summit was who should take responsibility for keeping children safe and entertained in a digital world.

The Summit was curated by BBC Children’s and chaired by Alice Webb, director of BBC Children’s and BBC North, which are based at MediaCityUK in Salford.

Marketing Manchester, BBC Children’s and Conference Partners International created the successful bid to host the event in Manchester.

Stephanie Newton, Head of Business Tourism at Marketing Manchester, said: “It’s been marvellous to welcome the Children’s Global Media Summit to Manchester for what’s been a really exciting, thought-provoking and successful event.

“We like to say that Manchester is where great minds meet, and it’s events like this that back us up. 

“To have thought-leaders from some of the most influential brands in modern media coming to Manchester to discuss how the sector can reach out to the next generation of consumers has been a great boost for the city’s profile

“It was a great honour to host some prestigious guests including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and speakers from the BBC, YouTube, ABC, the Walt Disney Company, and PBS to name just a few.

“This week has come as great recognition of the city’s globally competitive creative, media and digital sector. But importantly it’s also come as recognition of the city’s capacity to host events of huge global significance. We’re looking for to welcoming many more in years to come.”

The Children’s Global Media Summit featured 130 speakers from 36 different countries.

Greater Manchester Mayor and Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership member Andy Burnham said Manchester was the perfect place for senior media industry figures to be discussing the challenges faced by digital and technology leaders.

He said: “I think it’s a great tribute to everybody in the city that we’ve been able to bring such a prestigious event here to the centre of Manchester – people from all over the world, people from the biggest tech companies in the world - to debate one of the big issues of our time, how do we help young people negotiate a complex world.

“In many ways, this is right place. Manchester has always married industrial innovation with social innovation.”

Martha Sama, Head of Inward Investment for Creative, Design and Technology at MIDAS, Manchester’s inward investment agency, said that Manchester is already home to many companies that can help to find a solution to the issues raised at the summit.

She said: “Manchester has a legacy of technology providers - IT services, software developers, cybersecurity companies -  that, when working in collaboration with some of the content providers we have in Manchester, could really tackle some of those problems locally and create solutions to some of the issues we are hearing here today.”

Summit chair Alice Webb, Director of BBC Children’s, added: “The Children’s Global Media Summit has been fantastic. As chair of the summit, I had high expectations but it’s absolutely delivered. We’ve had a fantastic array of speakers – over 130 people from 36 different countries. The delegates have come from even further afield.

“And what’s been really brilliant is that we’ve been able to debate and discuss what is the right future for children’s media and what is the right interplay between technology, the internet, creativity and empathy.”

The Children’s Global Media Summit was founded in 1995 in order to help secure the future of children’s programming in a rapidly-changing world.