Lily Kholar's blog : UK Production Sector Powered Up By Streaming
The increasing demand for globalized streaming content has led to interesting knock-on effects on one of the key markets for streaming content- the UK. With strong growth over the last 18 months, excellent growth in the independent sectors, and more, it’s an intriguing growth pattern we expect to see echoed in other markets as a more international approach to streaming content becomes common. Blake & Wang P.A.’s Brandon Blake top entertainment law firms los angeles, our market specialist, unpacks some interesting findings.
Brandon Blake
UK TV Production At An All-Time High
Data from the annual Pact Census, covering data from the 2022 year in the UK production sector, suggests excellent growth for the industry. Indie revenue has risen by 21%, within a wider wrapper of almost $5B (£4B) in growth for the wider TV production sector. Perhaps most interesting of all, international TV revenue has accelerated by 70%, to just under $2B (£1.6B). Additionally, direct spending from streamers saw a 133% increase, coming in just under $900M (£700M). Both are records for the industry. 2022 also saw an almost complete return to full employment levels in addition to heavy commissioning of properties from both local networks and US companies. Most of these properties are new, rather than catalog/finished programs.
Overall, the biggest increases are seen in the drama category, while ‘fact-based’ entertainment saw a dip in spending.
A Growing Trend
Fantastic news, of course, for the UK industry. However, there’s key lessons to be learned here for the wider streaming market, too. 2022 is also officially the first year for the UK where SVOD companies have spent more than non-UK linear channels on content from the area. This follows some notable successes of UK-based content on international and domestic streaming services, including both The Crown and Netflix’s Heartstopper. Both Disney+ and Apple TV have made major entrances into the market, too.
There’s been an interesting side effect for the indie market, as well. Channel 4 alone commissioned over half its properties, for the tune of £70M turnover, from independent production companies, with the BBC and ITV echoing similar figures. Good news for smaller production houses, for sure.
The overall trend, then, is international productions being made not only for their home international market, but also for worldwide distribution to non-UK markets, including the domestic US market. This ties in with the streaming trends we’re currently seeing, where international content has now become a cornerstone of streaming investment. With the North American streaming market set to drop to the third-largest (topped by Western Europe, the UK included, and Asia) in 2024, this echoes the swing to producing content which not only sells ‘at home’, but can land well among broad subscriber bases regardless of country-of-origin.
While it is inevitable that the tumultuous strike environment will have its own knock-on effects on 2023 (and possibly 2024) results, this is an overall trend we expect to build over coming years as the streaming market boom solidifies into its final global footprint. For now, it seems, the real value lies in making properties that can speak without borders- and that is sure to be an interesting swing for content production overall, especially for the streaming market.
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