Who completed the Commissioner Survey?

By our estimation, just over one-third of commissioners in the UK responded to this year’s survey. Of the 77 who did, the vast majority (70%) are from PSBs or free-to-air channels, while 20% are commissioners at paid-for channels and 10% are from streamers.

Respondents were asked to provide their name, the identity of the broadcaster or streamer they work for, their rank, level of commissioning experience and the main genre they cover – with the guarantee that all data and views would be used anonymously. Without anonymity, we do not believe we would have secured such a high level of candour from commissioners.

In terms of experience, most respondents (40%) have chalked up between three and six years as commissioners. Those just starting out, with less than three years’ experience, account for 27% of respondents, while 29% have between six and 15 years. The most experienced, those with more than 15 years behind them, make up 4% of the total.

Length of service

Respondents are also fairly well embedded in their current roles – 27% have been in post for more than five years, 26% for between three and five years and 30% for between one and three years. Just 17% have started in their role since the last survey.

In terms of seniority, 58% describe themselves as a commissioning editor, 14% are one level more senior, 8% are heads of department and 12% are channel heads or directors of commissioning. Some 8% are in junior commissioning roles. The majority (71%) do not manage other commissioners.

When asked to estimate how many hours of programming they commission, the biggest group (44%) say between one and 50 hours each year, a third (33%) say they are responsible for between 51 and 100 hours and nearly a quarter (23%) say they commission more than 100 hours of TV annually.

Factual is the largest genre, with 40% of respondents commissioning primarily in factual and a further 13% in factual entertainment, while 10% are entertainment buyers. Drama commissioners account for 21% of respondents, up from 8% last year.

Those focused on comedy and kids each make up 4%, while 8% have no specific genre remit.

Our respondents also have responsibility for a wide range of budgets – 16% work with an average tariff of less than £100,000 per episode, down from 21% last year. There has been a corresponding jump in those paying out between £100,000 and £150,000 an episode to 18%, up from 14% last year.

In the middle range, there is very little movement from last year – 27% are offering between £150,000 and £500,000 on average, and 8% have an average tariff of between £500,000 and £1m. There is an increase in the proportion offering more than £1m per episode from 7% to 16% – but this could be accounted for by the fact that more drama commissioners are involved this year.

Money concerns may have made people more willing to talk about tariffs – last year, 23% of respondents declined to tell us what their average tariff was, compared with just 16% this year.

We hope the survey results will be useful to people working across the industry, from indies to the commissioners themselves, who may well have been wondering, “Does anyone else feel like I do?”. For many, the survey will have provided reassurance that the answer is a resounding “no”.