Bluey became a global hit, but the ABC missed out on much of the money, raising questions about how Australia protects its IP.
Background:
If you grew up in Australia, the ABC practically raised you.
It's Australia's publicly funded national broadcaster, founded back in 1932. It runs TV, radio, streaming and digital news across the country.
Think: Play School, Bananas in Pyjamas, Round the Twist, The Wiggles... And don’t forget Kath & Kim before it defected to commercial TV.
The ABC has a knack for spotting Australian creative talent before the rest of the world catches on. But the issue is, it’s also become good at giving away the upside.
Because the ABC often co-produces a series with an international partner... so the commercial upside flows elsewhere. And nowhere is that more obvious... than with Bluey.
Bluey was made in Brisbane and co-commissioned by the ABC and BBC Studios in 2017.
The ABC secured Australian broadcast rights…and BBC Studios took the global broadcast rights, the distribution rights, and the commercial rights (basically every part that prints money).
So while the ABC got to air Bluey domestically, the BBC got the plush toys, the backpacks, the lunchboxes, and the figurines. The Bluey show went on to become the most-watched series on Disney+ globally in 2024…seen in 140 countries, with merch sold in 50.
And get this: the ABC never even asked about a merchandising share. Not one email. Not one conversation.
Where we're at today:
Brand Finance now values the Bluey franchise at around US$2 billion.
BBC Studios pulled in £2.2 billion in commercial revenue in 2024–25. And Bluey brings in a significant portion of the US$3.6 billion in global retail sales for the BBC.
The ABC's own managing director Hugh Marks said that the BBC arrangement means $300 million of its annual income ends up going to the UK.
$300 million is almost a third of the ABC's entire annual government budget. So, one cartoon dog may now be generating enough money to fund approximately 700 seasons of Gardening Australia.
What's more? The Bluey movie drops in August 2027. Disney+ and BBC Studios are going to distribute it globally... while the ABC only gets the Australian rights.
Bluey isn’t the only time the ABC has fumbled the bag, either.
The ABC launched its streaming platform, iView, back in 2008. Insanely early to the streaming party.
But the ABC still somehow ended up watching Netflix, Stan, Disney+, Amazon and every other platform run straight past them.
And now? Australians spend $3.5 billion on streaming subscriptions. Most of it went offshore.
The tricky part is that the ABC’s mission and its commercial instincts point in opposite directions. ABC exists to serve Australians… not to maximise shareholder returns.
But when taxpayer-funded content becomes globally valuable, we miss out on the upside.
The problem is that the Bluey deal was normal practice for the era. The BBC co-production model is how many children's animations got funded internationally in the 2010s.
But normal practice can still be a terrible long-term strategy.
There's a deeper problem too. The ABC’s budget has been hammered for years. More than $520 million was cut from the ABC's operating budget between 2014 and 2022. That kind of pressure changes behaviour and makes institutions think short-term.
It creates a vicious cycle: budgets get squeezed, IP gets sold offshore, commercial upside leaves Australia.
Which means there’s less money available to fund future Australian content.
Where to from here:
The BBC model actually shows public broadcasters can serve your audience while maximising shareholder returns.
Think about it. The BBC is also a publicly funded national broadcaster, but its commercial arm aggressively monetises global rights and funnels profits back into British programming. The ABC has a commercial arm too, but it's nowhere near that scale.
Plus, Australia’s new streaming quotas mean Netflix, Disney+ and others have to invest more in Australian content. More co-production deals are coming. Which means more opportunities to get the IP question right... or wrong.
But what happened with Bluey is bigger than just one big bad deal.
It shines a light on how a national institution was built to find talent and serve Australian audiences, without protecting Australian commercial value.
Bluey might just be the deal that finally broke through the ABC’s blind spot. And in the future, it will hopefully try to capture at least some of the value it generates.
But the structural incentives haven't changed. Budgets are still tight. Co-production is still the fastest way to get content made.
So the fear is that in ten years there is another Brisbane studio making another global phenomenon... and another broadcaster rides on Australian-made coattails... yet again.
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