“Many report that there is now an expectation for distributors to plug big financing deficits, particularly for scripted programming”

Approaching this year’s Distributors Survey, I felt how I imagine bomb diffusers do, making their way gingerly towards an unexploded World War II naval mine.

Maybe not quite, but respondents’ dire warnings of market contraction last year did make me wonder if 2024 would show a cataclysmic reduction in UK revenues. As it turns out, the 4.6% drop to £1.85bn is not that bad, though BBC Studios’ £140m decline – losing its place at the top of the table for the first time – will definitely hurt.

It’s been a mixed bag in terms of performance, but with quite a lot of commonality. The companies in this year’s survey all relay how difficult maintaining revenues has been: a reliance on catalogue to hit targets, dealing with the pressures of the rising cost of production, stumping up chunky deficits to complete programme financing and, of particular concern for numerous companies, the disappearance of the UK secondary market.

John Elmes

As broadcasters hold back rights, that lucrative revenue stream – selling UK-commissioned shows to the streaming giants – is at best under threat, at worst completely gone, according to survey respondents.

And these concerns are not restricted to the UK market. For the first time, Broadcast has extended the scope of the survey to take the temperature of international distributors, with the intention of capturing more of the global landscape in future years.

Hopefully, the bomb is a dud and resilience can be replaced with growth across the board.

  • John Elmes is the international editor of Broadcast

A NOTE ON METHODOLOGY

To be included in the survey, companies need to be key players in the UK distribution market, selling their own or third-party product. They must be UK-based or with a sales team based in the UK. Companies must state distribution financial turnover in their responses. Participants are ranked based on distribution turnover for the year to 31 March 2024 or their latest financial year. Our thanks to all the companies that took part this year. If you’d like to be included next year, email john.elmes@broadcastnow.co.uk

Distributors show resilience in tough times