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TV formats market worth $2.9bn

The TV formats business has stood up well to the prolonged advertising recession, bringing in millions for European broadcasters and distributors, according to a new report.

The top 100 formats generated US$2.93bn for 84 European channels and 21 distributors in 16 territories last year according to the annual TV Formats In Europe report, which is published today.

Although that figure represents a slight decline on the 2012 numbers, Michael Cluff, the report’s co-author and director at media analysts Madigan Cluff, says it’s a strong performance given the economic situation.

He said: “Across Europe TV advertising revenues declined, which explains why the value for major formats in 2013 was 3.3% down on the 2012 total. Despite this decline revenue was higher than in 2011.”

The amount of formats aired on European broadcasters has remained constant, at about 28,386 hours across the year.

The UK led the way with 3,935 hours, although that has dropped considerably from 4,623 hours the year before. Romania took third place, having added 645 hours to its total in 2013.

Romania’s Antena 1 became the top channel by format hours screened in 2013 increasing by 507 hours to a total of 1,939 (5.3 hours/day). Denmark’s Kanal 5 dropped to second place.

The UK remains just ahead of France in the formats spending stakes. The value created by formats for UK broadcasters was US$600m in 2013, down from US$677m in 2012. France recorded US$599m in 2013, up from US$547m in 2012.

The UK, France, Germany and Italy accounted for 72% of Europe’s total value created in 2013. Russia’s US$144m in 2013 was up by 57% on 2012’s US$92m.

The top 10 broadcasters accounted for two-thirds of the total value which means that the remaining third was shared by 74 channels. France’s TF1 (US$332m) led the way, followed by Italy’s Rai 1 and the UK’s BBC1.

Russia’s 1TV made the top 10 in 2013 – by more than doubling its formats revenues in the year.

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