Pact chief John McVay has criticised UK broadcasters’ “callous” attitude towards mid-market programming in a “terrible” time for freelancers and indies, with the volume of smaller indies shrinking while large producers enjoyed growth.
Announcing Pact’s annual census, McVay called for more transparency regarding commissioning priorities as new figures show that indies’ revenues fell by almost 10% last year.
Total production revenues were down by £392 million (8.4%) to £3.6 billion, with declines in both UK and international revenues – though 2023 was second only to 2022’s record high, and above 2019’s pre-pandemic total of £3.3bn.
Non-TV revenues grew by 51.3% to £181 million, as producers looked to diversify and restructure, with Pact citing production management and event management as particular focuses.
The proportion of producers with a turnover of £10m and under fell from 22% to 14%, a reverse of indies in the £25-£70m bracket, which grew their share from 14% to 21%.
These larger producers now account for 91% of total spend on drama and 87% on entertainment, while indies with turnovers of less than £25m dominate the children’s sector, commanding 64% of spend.
McVay lambasted broadcasters’ “callous” and “cloth-eared” disregard for the “squeezed middle” as they try to compete with international streamers – described by BBC content head Charlotte Moore as “rightsizing”.
“We hear from buyers that they only want massive factories or top-end award-winning shows,” McVay said. “If I was young and heard that, I might not be encouraged to enter the industry.”
UK commissioning revenues stood at £1.78bn, a drop of 10.2% and the lowest level since 2020.
Pact attributed this to a 35.6% decline in multichannel commissioning revenues.
However, the overall percentage of new UK commissions was up slightly at 36%, fuelled by ITV, where 58% of spend went on new shows, more than double 2022’s 27%, as it continued to add new content to ITVX.
McVay urged Channel 4 to begin “refreshing the schedule and create new returning series” as its new IP remained steady at 21%.
International TV revenues were down by 14.7% to £1.4bn, partly due to strike action in the US slowing down production.
However, streamers’ investment remained stable, with only a 1.8% drop in commissioning revenues and the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Disney and Apple now account for 24% of all UK revenues.
Amid a string of indie closures, including the likes of RDF, Betty and Wildflame, many of which blamed the commissioning slowdown as broadcasters scale back ‘mid-market’ programmes, McVay said it was reasonable to expect broadcasters in a “mature industry” to help both freelancers and indies plan for the future,
“It would be really good for indies and freelancers if broadcasters made clear what they are planning to spend on,” he said. “I understand that broadcasters don’t like to push a number and be held to it, but if they said they have an ambition to spend, for example, £100m on drama, that would be fine.”
