{"id":679786,"date":"2026-09-09T05:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T05:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/679786\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T05:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T05:34:16","slug":"international-revenues-of-2-1b-boost-british-tv-makers-pact-census","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/679786\/","title":{"rendered":"International Revenues Of $2.1B Boost British TV Makers \u2013 Pact Census"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tRevenue from Britain\u2019s independent producers hit its second-highest total last year, despite spend from UK broadcasters falling beneath \u00a32B ($2.7B) for the first time since 2020. The numbers from Pact<\/a> come as the UK producers body warned that the BBC<\/a> must avoid a situation of financial \u201cmanaged decline.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Pact Census shows UK television revenues were announced \u00a31.99B for 2025, down 4.7% from \u00a32.09B the previous year, but significant growth in international TV revenues and non-TV revenue propelled the overall figure up 4.1% to \u00a33.81B. <\/p>\n

\n\tThis is a number only surpassed in a Covid-fuelled 2022, when the figure was just under \u00a34B, with shows such as Netflix\u2019s Adolescence among the biggest hits of 2025 and others such as Agatha Christie\u2019s Seven Dials making noise this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe numbers reveal the increasing reliance on global streamer commissions, with traditional public service broadcasters under major financial stress and facing stark choices about their output.<\/p>\n

\n\tPact, which represents a majority of the UK\u2019s independent TV producers, revealed international revenue was \u00a31.57B, up 15.8% on the \u00a31.35B from the previous year and only behind 2022\u2019s \u00a31.62B. The number accounted for 41.1% of total revenues. <\/p>\n

\n\tWarner, who was presenting the stats for the first time since replacing the long-serving John McVay, put this down to investment from the international streamers. He warned that commissions from the traditional domestic networks had fallen for the third consecutive year, placing significant pressure on small- and mid-sized production companies.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe slowdown was caused by multiple factors including \u201ca contraction in the advertising market, a shift in viewers away from broadcast TV and continued inflationary pressures on productions costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWarner also noted that subscription streamers now made 72.3% of all primary commissions from outside the UK, accounting for \u00a3916M, a figure that had risen from 27% over the past decade. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe stat highlighted how global streamers such as Netflix, Prime Video<\/a> and Disney+ have become the top shoppers by this metric. In the early-to-mid 2010s, most commissions came from the U.S. cable giants, who would order shows for channels across their international footprints.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, UK production companies were also benefitting from post-Hollywood strike recovery and from international finished tape sales returning to \u201cusual levels\u201d after a sharp 26.8% decline in 2024 brought about by production backlogs easing.<\/p>\n

\n\tNon-TV revenue (which includes online publishing, talent management, promotions, PR and feature films) was \u00a3258M, well up on last year\u2019s \u00a3224M and above the previous record, \u00a3236M, which was posted back in 2013. <\/p>\n

\n\tFurthermore, the secondary rights market increased by \u00a365M to reach \u00a3575M, as the reality of a market where producers must be more entrepreneurial was laid bare.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c[The growth is] a testament to the demand and to UK content, but it could also suggest that producers might be increasingly relying on future rights revenue to help finance production,\u201d said Warner.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a presentation to press, it was put to Warner that producers are facing a major the threat to the Terms of Trade have underpinned their businesses and allowed them to retain rights to shows commissioned by British networks since 2003. <\/p>\n

\n\tChannel 4<\/a>, often considered the closest friend to the indie sector for its publisher-broadcaster model, is still working on plans to launch an in-house division, while Sky is buying ITV<\/a> and BBC Director General Matt Brittin has cquestioned whether Terms of Trade rules are fit for purpose in the modern era.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe fundamentals of [the Terms of Trade] remain critically important to the health of the independent sector and have underpinned the growth of the independent sector over the past 25 years,\u201d said Warner, adding Pact was in continual discussions with each broadcaster and pointing to a new deal closed with Paramount\u2019s 5 in March.<\/p>\n

\n\tWarner said the amount of third-party funding going into budgets was among the most \u201csignificant changes we\u2019ve seen in recent years\u201d and added that \u201cnow we\u2019re seeing broadcasters contributing considerably less in terms of the initial financial cost of production.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe picture will become clearer once Channel 4\u2019s in-house unit is established, an arrangement with a merged Sky and ITV was in place and talks with the BBC over terms were concluded, added Warner. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn an environment where indies are contributing ever more towards the cost of production in the first place, they need to be in the position to recoup that investment themselves, and the rights become even more important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tBBC under pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe Pact Census numbers will make for unwelcome reading for Britain\u2019s public service broadcasters, and in particular the BBC, which is looking to make up to \u00a3500M in costs savings amid a funding crisis. <\/p>\n

\n\tPact once again suggested the BBC should look to replace the current licence fee funding model, which is under strain with an increasing number of viewers refusing to pay, with an alternative such as a household levy similar to Germany. \u201cThere\u2019s a strong logic in moving in that direction,\u201d said Warner in response to a Deadline question, adding it would remove the opportunity to evade paying.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt the moment, I don\u2019t see much of an alternative being presented other than simply carrying on the way we are, which risks the continuation of a decline in income and expenditure investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPact policy director Emily Oyama added this would mean \u201cless money to spend and therefore less money being spent,\u201d adding this represents \u201cmanaged decline.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year was the first in a quarter of a century in which McVay was not CEO of the producers organization. Warner replaced him<\/a> in March this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Revenue from Britain\u2019s independent producers hit its second-highest total last year, despite spend from UK broadcasters falling beneath…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[265],"tags":[3412,6016,18,117,19,17,2770,287675,3973,128,121],"class_list":["post-679786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bbc","tag-channel-4","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-itv","tag-pact","tag-prime-video","tag-tv","tag-youtube"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117239458574806610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}