UK television revenues fell by $512m as industry contracts, Pact survey shows
Total UK television sector revenues slumped by £392m (US$512m) to £3.61bn last year as the industry reeled from commissioning cutbacks, soaring inflation and a soft advertising market, according to UK producers’ trade body Pact.
John McVay
That figure is down 8.4% on 2022’s record figure of £3.944bn, when the screen sector was enjoying a short-lived post-Covid content boom.
Pact CEO John McVay said that many independent producers and freelancers experienced a “terrible year” in 2023, with several prodcos going bust.
The news came as Pact (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) released the results of its annual UK Television Production Survey.
Domestic TV revenues fell by £183m to £2.02bn during the 2023 financial year, down 8.3% year-on-year, while total UK commissioning revenues dropped to £1.78bn, down 10.2%. This was largely attributed to a 35.4% decrease in revenues earned from multichannel commissions for the likes of Sky and UKTV.
International commissioning rates also fell, by £209m (14.7%), with last year’s Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes in the US leading to a sharp drop in green lights from global broadcasters.
However, digital commissions from major SVoD players such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ remained stable at £684m, down just 1.8%, as the UK hosted shoots for high-end TV projects such as The Crown and Criminal Record.
New IP accounted for 35.6% of total UK primary commissioning spend, with commercial broadcaster ITV boosting its spending on new programming significantly to 58% of its total, compared with 25% in 2022. By contrast, public broadcaster Channel 4’s new show commissions accounted for just 21% of its total spend, with returning series dominating its schedules.
There were positive signs when it came to spending on production in the UK’s nations and regions. Productions outside of London rose to 52% of the UK total, surpassing 50% for the first time. Within that, the English regions experienced strong growth, accounting for 32% of total spending.
Looking at commissioning trends in the UK, drama remains the most valuable genre. Interestingly, factual entertainment programming increased its market share by 8%, likely due to the success of relaunched reality formats such as Big Brother.
Overall, despite numerous drop-offs, total revenues for the UK TV production sector remained well above pre-pandemic levels. When he revealed 2022’s record figures last year, McVay warned that it was unlikely those figures were sustainable, given market challenges and economic headwinds.
So it has proved, with McVay hoping the current downturn doesn’t develop into a continuing annual slide.
“It’s been a very tough year,” he said. “When I was at the Edinburgh TV Festival last month a lot of people were saying ‘Stay alive to 2025,’ but what does that mean? What if 25 is tougher than this year, or the year before?
“Clearly there is a significant decline year-on-year. Are we looking at the beginning of a different trend, where that downward shift increases? The answer is we just don’t know yet. I hope it’s a correction to the sort of normal trajectory that we saw in 2019.
“The 2023 census shows how many producers are really feeling the impact of the financial crisis and tough market conditions, but also that producers are resilient and are able to diversify during these tough times. Next year’s census will give us a clearer idea of the longer-term impact of the uncertainty of the past few years.”
