Pact UK Television Census 2020

Independent TV production sector revenues reached a new record of £3.3 billion in 2019 - driven by international revenues breaking £1 billion for the first time – an increase of 11% on 2018, and 30% over the past five years.

International was the sector’s fastest growing revenue stream and reached £1,251 million in 2019, a 30% increase on 2018. Commissions from international linear TV services rose by £226 million in 2019, accounting for the majority of growth, whilst revenue generated by commissions from SVOD services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime grew again, reaching £337m.

Domestic revenues also reached a new high of £1,943 million, a 3% increase on 2018.

Smaller producers form majority of market

The UK indie sector remains varied with a wide range of different sized producers. Since 2018, there has been an increase in medium sized producers, but smaller producers continue to make up most of the UK sector.

Across the networks, Channel 5 spent the highest proportion of its commissioning budget with smaller producers, with 20% of its independent suppliers in the £1-5m turnover bracket.

Increase in drama and entertainment spend

Spending on drama and entertainment content continued to increase in 2019. Drama content accounted for 40% of all UK primary commissioning spend in 2019, an increase of five percentage points on 2018.

Both entertainment and factual content saw an increase in commissioning spend, together accounting for 37% of the market – a five percentage point increase in total.

Strong year for Nations and Regions indies

In 2019, half of all UK production budgets were spent in the Nations and Regions (45% in 2018), and 37% of full-time jobs were based outside of London (31% in 2018). Additionally, nearly a quarter (24%) of all commissioning spend outside of London was from international investment (17% in 2018).

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Click here to read the Nations & Regions annex in full.