US drama revenues drop despite rising imports

In 2007, the UK imported 6,448 hours of drama for broadcast on the terrestrials as well as ITV’s and Channel 4’s digital stations, which saw them generate £282m in revenues.

By the end of 2010, the hours had risen to 9,940 but revenues had dropped to £205m - a result of the economic downturn that took hold during the period.

The figures are revealed in the Imported Drama Series in Europe report, compiled by Essential Television Statistics (ETS), Madigan Cluff and Digital TV Research.

Co-author Michael Cluff said: “The advertising recession has had a knock-on effect on the value of imported drama series for broadcasters since 2009. Public broadcasters are being scrutinised more closely than ever, which has put pressure on household licence fee income and expenditure.”

BBC1 has had the biggest reduction in imported drama, dropping from 469 hours in 2007 to 156 hours in 2010.

Conversely, digital channel E4’s reliance on US drama soared from a sizeable 2,380 hours in 2007 to 4,598 hours in 2010.

Warner Bros was the largest distributor of primetime imported drama series by hours scheduled in 2010, providing 17% (1,149 hours) of the total. CBS took second place with 16% (436 hours), with Disney third on 14% (371 hours).

Across Europe, the import value of foreign drama was £3.8bn for 120 broadcasters across 21 territories. While this figure was similar to 2009, it was down on the £4.2bn recorded in 2008.

Unsurprisingly, Italian, French and German channels generated the highest revenues from imported drama series in 2010. France’s TF1 was the greatest beneficiary, generating £324m from 2,178 hours.