Amazon has agreed to move its Prime Video streaming service towards the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) certification system.
The BBFC has signed an agreement with the streamer to build on their existing Trust & Safety tools, in order to move towards the in-house production of BBFC age ratings that are in line with the BBFC’s Classification Guidelines. T
In a statement, the BBFC said it would support Prime Video to adapt its rating methodologies in the UK to fully reflect the BBFC’s classification standards.
“With families watching more content across a greater range of services than ever before, demand has never been higher for age ratings and content advice that reflect audiences’ values and expectations,” said David Austin OBE, Chief Executive of the BBFC.
Chris Bird, Managing Director of Prime Video UK, added: “At Prime Video, we start with our customers and work backwards. BBFC ratings are recognised and trusted across the UK, and we are delighted to be deepening our long-standing relationship with the BBFC to ensure our UK customers can continue to make the right viewing decisions for their families.”
Currently, the BBFC works with 29 VOD/streaming services in the UK to provide age ratings for content on a voluntary best practice basis. These include Apple TV+, Curzon Home Cinema, Lionsgate+, Rakuten TV, Sky Store, and YouTube Movies.
Recent BBFC research found nine in ten (90%) parents/caregivers of 4-to 15-year-olds and eight in ten (80%) teenagers aged 16-19 consider age ratings and content advice to be of equal importance on streaming services as they are for films in the cinema.