Although British TV exports have dropped by 2% overall since 2022/2023, sales to the US are actually up by 13%, according to Pact. The trade org published this data in its annual UK TV Exports Report today, estimating overall distributor revenue at around US$2.2 billion (£1.81 billion). 

Revenue from the US came in at US$751 million (£593 million), making up one-third (33%) of all global exports. But the report also noted a significant decline in sales to countries like Italy (down 23%) and France (down 21%), the latter of which slipped out of Britain’s top-five content export countries (by revenue) for the first time ever.

Kids content exports in 2023/2024 were on par with the previous year at 3% of the annual total. Over the past six years, this genre has continually hovered between 2% and 3%, with the exception of a slight uptick to 4% in 2019/2020.

Ranking the factors that could influence the international distribution of UK content over the next year, all survey respondents (100%) highlighted increased production costs, followed by lack of financing support from commissioners (90%) and rising M&A activity (80%).

Fremantle, BBC Studios, ITV Studios and All3Media International sponsored this new Pact report, which features survey insights from more than 20 UK distributors gathered and compiled by 3Vision. The full UK TV Exports Report is available on the Pact website.

Featured image: Planet Earth III, which was among BBC Studios’ top three exporting titles for the year according to the Pact report.