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He Pānui
Kia ora koutou! Welcome to this edition of He Pānui - Te Māngai Pāho, keeping you up to date with the latest news in te reo Māori content and funding across Aotearoa!
Sector consultation for 2026/27 funding
Much of the start of this year has been spent consulting with the sector on our future strategic direction, and how we will collectively manage the loss of $16 million in time limited funding from 1 July.
Thank you to everyone who has made submissions so far. Both the Board and our kaimahi have read and considered all feedback to date. While conversations will continue, we expect to share our updated approach and strategy in the near future.
To provide timely updates to the sector, we have scheduled a hui on Tuesday 21 April in Tāmaki Makaurau at Aotea Centre to present these updates and answer any pātai. This will be an opportunity to kōrero kanohi-ki-te-kanohi with both the Board and senior team at Te Māngai Pāho, and to provide input before our accountability documents are finalised.
Agenda:
9:45 am: arrival - Waihorotiu Room, Aotea Centre
10:00am: presentation from Te Māngai Pāho
10:30am: Q&A
11:30: light kai available
A Zoom option will be available for those unable to attend in person. Please indicate in your RSVP if you will join us in person or online.
2026/27 Kura Pounamu funding round
The purpose of this funding is to support the creation of reo Māori content for Aotearoa audiences. Te Māngai Pāho expects to allocate up to $10m (ex. GST) in total but reserves to its sole discretion the right to distribute a higher or lesser amount in this funding round.
Priority is given to 100% reo Māori content for tamariki and rangatahi audiences. Young people, from kōhungahunga through to kura tuarua, are critical to reo Māori revitalisation and retention strategies as they are the fluent speakers of tomorrow. Approximately $3m (of $10m) will be allocated for this content.
We will also accept applications for reo Māori content for general audiences, with preference for entertainment content on digital platforms and content containing more than 70% te reo Māori. Approximately $7m (of $10m) will be allocated to content for general audiences.
Wātaka | Timeline
26 March - Round Opens
11:00am, 1 April - Information Session
5:00pm, 26 May - Round Closes
17 July - Decisions Notified
Applicants may submit a maximum of two proposals by completing an application form for each and attaching a relevant proposal document. Proposals will be assessed on Creative (25%), Te Reo Māori (25%), Audience Strategy (20%), Budget (15%), and Applicant (15%).
Details and advice on the proposals, process and expectations are included in the RFP. Please read the full document carefully and attend the info session if you have any pātai.
Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua, Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te wawata. Ki a rātou kua mene atu ki Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki roa, Hawaiki pāmamao, ka mihia, ka tangihia. Hei te wā o Matariki, ka whakaarohia ngā mate huhua o te tau, ka tukua, ka okioki atu rā. Waiho mātou ki te whenua, kia whakatinana ngā wawata me ngā tūmanko. Rātou ki te pō, tātou ki te ao marama.
Tēnā rā koutou i roto i ngā tini āhuatanga o te wā nei, i runga anō i te take ki te aroaro i a mātou ōtira i a tātou.
It has been a very busy start to the year for our sector. Alongside this, we have been consulting on our future direction for the next financial year. Te Māngai Pāho is due to lose $16 million in time-limited funding, and we have been clear that we need to work closely with the sector to identify solutions that best supports te reo Māori.
Last week, the decisions for our final Diverse Content rounds for 2025/26 were sent out. In the recent General Audiences round, there was some confusion over the stage two closing date. We recognise this may have caused unnecessary pressure for some producers. We have since reviewed our process to ensure our communications are clearer going forward. This serves as an important reminder that the RFP will always contain the correct dates. When issues arise, we will work as quickly as we can to address them and find solutions that best support the producers applying to the relevant funding round.
Over the coming weeks we will report back on our strategic direction and outline how you can feed into this. At this stage, while we are still gathering sector feedback, we anticipate a transition year that maintains the status quo as much as possible while allowing us to prepare and undertake the work necessary. The strongest outcomes of our strategy will be what we can collectively achieve for te reo Māori.
We will host a sector wānanga on 21 April in Tāmaki Makaurau. If you are able to attend, either in person or online, we encourage you to do so. This will be an opportunity to ask questions, discuss our pathway forward, and what any changes might look like for Te Māngai Pāho and the Māori media sector. Ki runga rā, ka whakamōhio atu i te wātaka, kia pōwhiritia tika mai rā koutou kia kōrero tahi kia whakatau ngā āwangawanga o te wā.
Heoi anō, noho ora mai rā i runga i ngā manaakitanga o te wā. Mauriora.
Larry Parr
Kaihautū o Te Māngai Pāho
What makes a great funding application?
Te Māngai Pāho, in partnership with Ngā Aho Whakaari and NZ On air are hosting a wānanga next week for producers who want advice on how to prepare strong, competitive funding applications.
The wānanga will be held on Tuesday 31 March with two options to attend:
- In-person from 10:30am-12:00pm at Te Māngai Pāho and NZ On Air's joint Tāmaki Makaurau office (A1, One Beresford Square, Newton)
- OR via an online webinar from 2:00-3:00pm on Zoom.
This kaupapa is aimed at helping producers navigate some of the more common challenges we see in applications – such as strengthening finance plans, forming more well-rounded distribution strategies and outlining clear platform support on projects. It’s a chance for producers to hear directly from funders about what makes an application compelling and also what can unintentionally weaken one.
If you would like to register for the wānanga, email funding@nzonair.govt.nz and let us know whether you will be attending in person or online. The webinar will also be recorded.
ScreenMiner
Te Māngai Pāho has recently signed an agreement with Vancouver-based Magnify Digital to deploy its ScreenMinerTM platform across our funded productions.
ScreenMiner is a Canadian-built audience intelligence platform designed specifically for the screen sector. It aggregates audience data from the digital channels where viewers discover and engage with content and applies artificial intelligence to interpret that data in context. The result is not just reporting, but decision-ready insights: what is working, where audiences are building, and where strategy should adjust.
ScreenMiner Benefits for Producers
- A single, consolidated view of audience performance across social and digital channels
- Clear engagement metrics — watch time, completion, sentiment, demographics
- Comment analysis at scale to surface meaningful audience response
- Reporting that supports obligations to funders and other stakeholders
Next Steps
Te Māngai Pāho will be in touch with producers soon to begin their onboarding processes. This will be a phased approach while producers familiarise themselves with the tool and begin embedding it with their contracted projects.
Kaimahi hou
We are excited to welcome our newest kaimahi who has started in the Funding (Te Whiringa) team.
Joel Rudolph
Joel (Ngāpuhi, Te Āti Haunui a Pāpārangi, Te Iwi Morehu, Ngāi Tahu) has a background in the Aotearoa screen and cultural sector, having held key funding and executive support roles at Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission and Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School. He has further experience working in the public service in finance and support roles at the Department of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Education. Joel holds a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and theatre, and a Master of Fine Arts in theatre from Victoria University of Wellington. He has a strong passion for working within the screen and media industry and enjoys contributing to the championing and showcasing of Te Reo Māori, and the growth and visibility of Māori talent.
Joel has joined us on a fixed-term contract to cover parental leave.
Kia mōhio ai koutou, the payment run following Easter will be on Wednesday 8 April due to the public holidays. Please make sure your milestones are submitted by Thursday 2 April.
Funding dates for 2026
Kura Pounamu
Opens - Thurs 26 March
Closes - Tues 26 May
Kia māhorahora te reo!
Māori language - everyone, every way, everywhere, every day!
