Study highlights pre-Brexit importance of UK audiovisual business

Some 29% of all European TV channels are based in the UK and the UK, with 12% of European TV households, accounts for 21% of the EU28 audiovisual market, according to a forthcoming report on the impact of Brexit by the European Audiovisual Observatory.

The report, The impact of Brexit on the audiovisual industry: a European point of view, to be presented in November at a conference in Brussels, provides a European view of the UK’s weight within the EU’s audiovisual markets.

According to the study, 1,203 TV channels out of 3,005 across the EU 28 are currently based in the UK. The UK is by far the main country of establishment in the EU 28 for television channels and on-demand services. The UK hosts three of the top 10 EU28 audiovisual groups (Sky, BBC, ITV) and also hosts European subsidiaries of the major US media groups.

Some 43% of the TV channels established in the UK currently target primarily another country.

The study also found that the UK is, together with Germany, the largest audiovisual market in the EU28, accounting for a 21% share.

According to the study, the UK market is slightly more dynamic, on average, than the EU28 as a whole, due to the solid performance of pay TV and because the UK is the most-developed EU 28 market for on-demand services.

The average annual growth rate in audiovisual between 2011 and 2016 was 2.1% for the UK vs. 1.7% for the EU28.

The UK ranks number four in the EU in terms of number of TV fiction hours produced, underpinned by a focus on high-end drama with export potential.

The UK ranks second after France for the number of film titles exported to other EU28 countries in cinema and on TV. The country currently produces 16% of all EU28 films, excluding blockbusters films fully-funded by US majors through their UK subsidiaries.

In relation to VOD exploitation of European films, the UK ranks number one in Europe ahead of France for the number of titles exported to other EU 28 countries on transactional VOD.