What We're Watching - 2023 Snapshot

What We're Watching – 2023 Snapshot

May 2023

This national survey, which asked New Zealanders about their attitudes towards classification, highlighted the public’s desire for more information about the challenging topics that are appearing on our screens.

Download the full report (pdf, 534.8 KB)

Key findings from the report

Knowledge of age ratings
  • 75% correctly identified that the ‘M’ symbol means a movie is more suitable for mature audiences.
  • 63% correctly identified that ‘Restricted Rating’ symbols mean a movie is not suitable for younger audiences.
  • 58% correctly identified that the ‘PG’ symbol means a movie is generally suitable but younger children may need parental guidance.

Support for additional content warnings
  • 68% said it would be helpful to include warnings for sexual harassment or unwanted sexual behaviour (74% among those who helped choose content for a child or young person).
  • 59% said it would be helpful to include warnings for racist behaviour or stereotypes (64% among those who helped choose content for a child or young person).

For video games specifically:

  • 58% said it would be helpful to be warned about in-game purchases (67% among those who helped choose content for a child or young person).
  • 57% said it would be helpful to be warned about simulated gambling (62% among those who helped choose content for a child or young person).

Importance of classification info
  • 61% believe that age ratings are about right, 20% believe they are too lenient, 10% believe they are too strict.
  • Among those who helped choose content for a child or young person, 79% said that content warnings are important and 74% said that age ratings are important.

Online safety and harmful content
  • 65% agreed that it’s hard to protect children from inappropriate or harmful online content.
  • 56% said they felt they knew enough to help the whānau stay safe.
  • 41% find it hard to avoid seeing harmful or offensive content online.
  • 34% agreed that websites and social media sites provide the tools and features needed to stay safe online.
  • 52% do not trust social media sites to remove dangerous, violent or harmful material.

Note on comparability of figures

The figures in our 2023 Snapshot are not directly comparable with those in our previous What We’re Watching reports due to different samples and methodology.

We intend for future snapshots to be comparable year-on-year.

Part of our What We're Watching series (2022–2023)

What We're Watching composite