Revenues for the independent TV production sector reached a record £3.3bn in 2019.
According to the Pact UK Production Census, the 11% year-on-year increase was driven by international income, which broke the £1bn mark for the first time.
Commissions from international linear television services rose by £226m last year. SVOD Services, including Netflix and Amazon Prime accounted for £337m.
Domestic income reached a new high of £1,943m, which is a 3% increase on 2018.
“It was only a matter of time for international revenues to break £1 billion. The creativity and talent that the UK indie sector has to offer is world class and British programming has true global appeal,” said Pact CEO John McVay.
“Despite the obvious challenges that the sector has faced this year, I am confident that UK indies will weather the storm and continue this international success story.”
The report also revealed that half of all UK production budgets were spent in the Nations and Regions – up from 45% in 2018. The North West, Wales and the South West saw the most significant spend, with nearly a quarter of all commissioning coming from international investment.
The figures also showed that 37% of full-time jobs were based outside of London. 3% of these were in Yorkshire and 5%in the North West.
“These record revenues show very clearly that the indie sector has had huge success in 2019, reflecting the importance of our independent TV production sector to the international market,” added Sara Geater, Chair of Pact and All3Media Chief Operating Officer.
“We can look forward to the production levels from UK indies returning to meet the global demand for the high quality, original content that audiences around the world love.”
Nationally, there has been an increase in medium-sized producers, but smaller producers make up the bulk of the UK sector (42%).
Channel 5 spent the highest proportion of its commissioning budget with these smaller producers, with 20% of its independent suppliers having turnovers between £1m and £5m.
