How can television attract ever-elusive young audiences? For European public broadcasters, the answer is to focus on streaming, which offers much more flexibility in trying out different content strategies.

Gathered at Venice Production Bridge, the industry section of the Venice Film Festival, to discuss how platforms and broadcasters can aid the international circulation of domestic titles in a saturated market, industry heads circled back to the larger question of how to lure those young audiences, an issue that dictates much of their current acquisition strategies.

“We are actively finding audiences who don’t watch TV anymore,” said Diana Tabakov, who works in acquisitions for Ivysilani,...