Pact case study

Pact is the trade association representing the commercial interests of UK independent television, film, digital, children’s and animation media companies

It has a strong record in shaping the regulatory and legislative environment – leading to domestic and international growth.

To raise the profile of the British TV industry internationally, Pact asked 3Vision to capture key insight into how much value UK TV content has overseas.

We worked with Pact and major stakeholders including BBC Studios, ITV Studios, All3Media International, and Fremantle to survey the value of UK content internationally, combining our research into the “UK TV Exports Report”

We have an in-depth understanding of the licensing landscape and a strong background in managing surveys and writing reports. We used this insight and experience to:

• Liaise with report stakeholders to design the survey to meet multiple objectives
• Create the survey using an online tool and engage with respondents to complete
• Meet with senior executives to discuss their responses and the report findings
• Collate and analyse the findings
• Draft the report using our industry insight and understanding of key contextual happenings
• Present the findings to report stakeholders and liaise with Pact and the press to answer questions

This years' report demonstrated that despite the turbulence in the media and tech sector, UK TV exports remain strong.

• After some difficult years in global markets and some on going challenges to the TV business it is reassuring to see UK TV Exports return to growth. Exports have shown a confident return to growth, exceeding the previous high in 2022/23 and breaking the £2 billion barrier for the first time.
• The behaviour of US media companies has created significant challenges over the last three years for UK companies but despite this the US remains the largest destination for UK TV Exports, accounting for 40% of the total, up 34% year-on-year.
• Many of the countries that showed decline last year have returned to growth, most notably with Italy (64% up versus 23% decline in’23/24) and France (61% up versus 21% decline). Elsewhere in Europe, Poland(26%), Belgium (27%), and Spain (18%) all achieved double-digit growth, with no European countries in the top 20 showing declines.
• Only the smallest category of sales showed decline, with Digital Sales (TVOD & EST) falling 43% to a low of £14 million. Finished programme sales remains the largest contributor to overall exports (53%), with sales rebounding 5% to £1,069 million after last year’s decline, although this figure is still below 2022/23 levels. International Production continued its upward trend, rising 8% to £349 million whilst Formats and Co-Productions grew 13% and 5% year-on-year, reaching £244 million and £126 million respectively. There was also another significant increase in the ‘Other’ category of revenue (revenues from licensing ancillary, non-programme rights e.g. consumer products), increasing to £212 million.
• Library revenue as a % of TV Sales reached a high of 44%, perhaps highlighting the strength and depth of the UK’s library of content. With different catalogue sizes the proportion of sales as library varies by distributor but in most cases a rise in the share of sales to library was reported. However, as can be seen from the % value for four of the top five UK distributors there were some exceptions. It is clear though that distributors are working harder and finding more innovative ways to window and sell content and library sales may be providing a budget-starved market with an economic solution to finding great content.

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The UK TV Exports report illustrates not just the overall strength of the UK television industry but the ongoing appeal of content created in the UK for global viewers and the contribution the industry makes to the UK economy.