Broadcast Indie Survey 2011 by Media Business Insight

Talkback Thames (Fremantle) Hit Entertainment Kudos Film and TV (Shine) Tiger Aspect (Endemol) Shine TV (Shine) Company Pictures (All3Media) Twofour Avalon TV (Avalon) Optomen/One Potato Two Potato(All3Me dia)Princess Productions (Shine) Carnival Film & Tele vision (NBC) Hat Trick Productions Sunset + Vine (Ti nopolis) Lion TV (All3Media) Mentorn Media (Tino polis) Bentley Productions (All3Media) North One TV (All3Media) Objective Productions (All3Media) Left Bank Pictures Aardman Darlow Smithson (Endemol) RDF TV (Zodiak) Maverick Television (All3Media) Leopard Films Open Mike Productions The Foundation The annual (Zodiak) Touchpaper (Zodiak) IWC of (Zodiak) survey the Pulse Films Input Media Rondo Media Talk Productions UK’sBig independent Parthenon Entertainment CPL (Shine) Red TVDragonfly producers Production Company Atlantic Productions Spun Gold TV Pioneer Productions (Tinopolis) Studio Lambert (All3Media) So Television Fresh One Productions Cler kenwell Films Lime Pictures (All3Media) Mammoth Screen Nutopia Betty TV Raw TV Somethin’ Else Buffa lo Pictures Impossible Pictures Baby Cow Splash Media Icon Films October Films Keo Films The Com edy Unit (Zodiak) Windfall Films Outline Productions Blast! Films Tigress (Endemol) Antix Productions Zig Zag Fever Media Cactus (All3Media) Firecracker Films ETV Tern TV True North Productions DLT Entertainm ent A Broadcast supplement

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Indies 2011 contents

contents 4

Introduction and league table

Standout ideas and new business

The power of a hit series New faces rise to the top despite a squeeze on budgets

models helped the best performers in a harsh economic environment 14 The top 30

New to the survey: the league tables of the top 30 ‘true’ indies and the top 30 subsidiaries of larger companies

16 Top owners and consolidators

As media giants seek growth, the consolidation of the super-indies is set to carry on in to 2011

18 Top suppliers

The large indie owners maintained and increased their dominance in programme supply to the BBC and ITV

In an ideas business, all it can take is one hit to propel you into the big league. Just ask Dance Robin PaRkeR Pineapple supplemenT Studios indie Pulse, ediTor Misfits producer Clerkenwell Films or Firecracker Films, whose Cutting Edge documentary My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and its subsequent series caught everyone off guard. It has been propelled to number three in our peer poll of indies, right behind powerhouses Kudos and Wall to Wall. Our figures show that smaller budgets and fewer commissions were the norm. But despite this, the superindies managed to grow their share of the market by 20% to £1.11bn. Of course, a chart of 141 companies, ranging from one-man bands to format factories with a global reach, only tells part of the picture. This year we have also pulled out the top 30 ‘true’ indies not aligned to any group and compiled a table of ‘owned’ subsidiaries of larger companies.

Prompted by the growing trend for UK indies to come under the wing of international broadcasters, we’ve broadened our definition of ‘superindies’ to include the likes of NBC, which owns Carnival and Monkey Kingdom, and Time Warner, whose assets now include Shed. Super-indies are both direct rivals to these giants and, in some cases (notably All3Media), a potential acquisition target. News Corp’s recent takeover of Shine cemented our view that a true picture of UK indie ownership can only be reached when this wider view of the £1bn market is considered. Finally, our genre analysis throws up some shocks: despite hits like Sherlock and Downton Abbey, drama was in the doldrums in 2010 thanks to the commissioning hiatus a year to 18 months previously, while the much-maligned children’s market continued its upswing – thanks as much to S4C as the BBC. A big thank you to everyone who took part this year and special thanks to About Corporate Finance for assisting with the survey.

26 Top specialists

Our genre league tables show children’s and fact ent specialists were among the growth areas in a year of decline for drama, entertainment and sport

30 Nations and regions

Efficiency and diversity paid dividends for regional indies as they increased

With thanks to Compact Media Group for sponsoring this year’s survey. For further information visit www.compactcollections.com More on these production companies and their commissions can be found at www.greenlight.broadcastnow.co.uk

their turnover 32 Peer poll

While familiar names fill the two top spots, several producers have shot into the top 10 for the first time after outstanding performances

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

While every care has been taken in compiling the tables, Broadcast relies on participants to supply accurate results and bears no responsibility for errors or ommissions

Supplement Editor Robin Parker Broadcast Editor Lisa Campbell Production Editor Dominic Needham Sub Editor Steve Sampson Group Art Director Peter Gingell Group Commercial Director, Media Alison Pitchford Group Advertising Manager Rebecca Jones Production Manager David Cumming Account Director Charlotte Bowskill Senior Account Manager Fiona Evans Account Manager Sonya Jacobs Acting Group Advertising Manager Amanda Pryde Contributors Alex Farber, Andy Fry, Jake Kanter, Balihar Khalsa, Catherine Neilan, Will Strauss, David Wood 18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 3

Indies 2011 Overview League tabLes

uK indies:

the winners and losers

alkback Thames may have lost its chief executive in 2010, but judging by the company’s performance in this year’s Indie Survey, Lorraine Heggessey must have been doing something right. With revenues of £145m, up 4% on last year’s total, Talkback has wrestled back pole position from kids’ producer and distributor Hit Entertainment, which in 2009 overtook Talkback to take the top spot. Talkback and Hit weren’t the only producers to enjoy a stellar year. Shine’s Kudos comes in at number three, with turnover up nearly 32% to £54m, thanks to a string of successful drama franchises such as Spooks, Hustle and Law & Order: UK. It was a mixed year for drama indies, however. Leading producers such as Lime and Carnival faced double-digit drops thanks to a commissioning hiatus forcing a drastic drop in hours (see Top 10 Specialists, page 26),

£1.74bn total turnover of uK production sector in 2011

The X Factor: success for Talkback Thames

2010 faLLing budgets and Key cOncerns Did your programme budgets fall in 2010? 55%

Key concerns for independent producers 30% Budget pressure

21% 44% 19%

76%

Less than 10% 10-20% 20-50% 50% +

31.0%

Falling commissions

9.0%

Investment hurdles

7.5%

Super-indie dominance

5.5%

Rights problems

5.5%

Financing problems

3.5%

Maintaining quality

3.0%

In-house too big

3.0%

Other

14.0%

No answer/no concern

18.0%

4 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

Rex FeatueS

In a year of economic hardship and continuing dominance of the super-indies, standout ideas, key franchises and new business models thrived. David Wood looks at the figures

though Carnival was mostly hit by the loss of its US drama The Philanthropist. Touchpaper (Being Human, SingleHanded) deserves credit for nearly doubling turnover to £13.1m, and Clerkenwell Films makes a splash with £8.3m thanks to Misfits’ success. Other in-form producers include Twofour, up from 13th last year to 8th on turnover of £33m (up 36%) and, thanks to NBC’s takeover of Carnival, now the best-performing ‘true’ indie after Hit. Shine-owned Princess is in 12th place with £25m revenues (up from 27th last year), All3Media-owned Optomen is 10th with £29.1m (up 28%) and fellow All3M indie Studio Lambert is one of the fastest-growing new indies, with a turnover of £26.1m (up from £3.8m in 2009), thanks to Undercover Boss. Comparing like-for-like figures, overall turnover of the UK independent production sector was down from £1.92bn in 2009 to £1.74bn. The increasing influence of super-indies and broadcasters in the UK independent production sector is underlined by

the fact that their share of the market was up nearly 20% to £1.11bn and that only three companies in the top 20 are independently owned. The total revenue of independently owned production companies in 2010 was £653.9m, which initially appears to be a sharp and worrying drop on the previous year’s total of £1.01bn. However, much of the drop is accounted for by the fact that significant turnovers have been omitted from the independents list. 19 Entertainment declined to submit figures because so much of what it does is USbased, while Talkback’s sizeable revenues have been reclassified under the consolidators table because of the company’s ownership by broadcaster Fremantle. That adds up to £264m. Others too have shifted into the consolidators table, including Avalon, Optomen (now part of All3), and Carnival, now part of NBC. Meanwhile, the demise of Power, Greenlit Rights and Steadfast took £50m out of the market. www.broadcastnow.co.uk

In association with

compact

media group

note than was the case 12 months previously. There were plenty of signs that the commissioning drought that has hit the fortunes of independent production over the past two years may be coming to an end, with broadcasters beginning to spend more on drama as well as other genres. Zodiak chief executive David Frank notes: “We have 49 production companies across the world, and the UK was one of the toughest markets. We found 2009 and 2010 tough, but in 2011, the good news is outweighing the bad. Our order book shows that it will be a year for growth – possibly double-digit. The improvement in A new breed of indie broadcasters’ advertising revenues is a Pulse’s success underlines the emergood barometer.” gence of a new breed of production DCD Media boss David Green adds: business in our survey over the past couple of years: the diversified content “There were no fireworks, but 2010 was better than 2009 and things are company. These firms, which include steadily improving. But there is Twofour, see TV as part of a wider still less commissioning in range of content and IPthe UK and I suspect it’s based businesses. In not going to return Pulse’s case, its activity to pre-2008 levels for spans the worlds of TV, Drop in total hours many years.” fashion, music, films, produced by indies, No surprise, then, that AFP and cross-platform from 16,419 in staffing levels at producproduction. 2009 to 14,355 tion companies have MD Thomas Benski in 2010 fallen. The trend of prodsays: “Pulse was set up ucers employing fewer fullwith diverse revenue streams and we have explicitly not relied solely time staff has continued, with indies employing a total of 4,434 staff in on traditional broadcasters for 2010 compared with 5,163 in 2009. growth. Pineapple Dance Studios [picFurther evidence of the recession can tured, below] put us on the map but be seen in the cautious approach to we also benefited from the fact that expansion, with just 13 out of a total of people like to discover new compa155 companies taking part this year nies. In a world of consolidating super-indies, we are a fresh name with opening a new office in the UK or elsewhere. And while 46 indies have a a new approach.” digital arm, the total number of digital Other top performers include employees has fallen to 320 from the Mammoth Screen, Twofour, Big Talk, 2009 total of 494. Open Mike, Icon and Left Bank. A rising number of producers are Another indicator of success is the now making mobile content – 57 ratio of profitability to turnover. Many declined to reveal a profit figure, but of (36%) – while 37 indies are working in 3D production. The number of those that did, Hit Entertainment companies engaged in online produc(£50m), followed by Parthenon tion has also increased, up from 28% (£1.9m), Bwark (£1.6m) and Baby of the total in 2009 to 36% in 2010. Cow (£1.35m) all scored highly. The growth in on-demand As one might expect from a market viewing is also reflected in this emerging from one of the worst recesyear’s survey, with the sions for decades, hours of original number of indies reportprogramming were down. Total hours ing on-demand revenues dropped from 16,419 in 2009 to rising from 61 last year 14,355 in 2010 – a fall of more than to 81 this year (51% of 2,000 hours. It’s no surprise that the total). repeats are taking up the shortfall, Other trends include the inexowith hours up to more than 34,100 rable rise of in-house post-production, from last year’s total of just 30,000. with the majority of indies (64%) now The good news is that the situation involved in some form of in-house appears to be improving. Many indies post-production and 38% saying they ended 2010 on a much more upbeat Despite All3Media’s £40m acquisition of Optomen in August, the rate of acquisitions has cooled markedly over the past two years, with activity subdued because of the modest multiples achievable in a market still trying to shake off its recessionary hangover. Some believe the acquisition market will soon pick up and this year’s table gives some indication as to which companies might make the most desirable targets. Among these ‘true’ indies, Pulse Films saw the biggest growth, with a 243% rise in turnover to £12m (see table, page 14).

2,064

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

League tabLes MetHOdOLOgy the survey is based on the responses of more than 300 independent producers and owners who completed an online questionnaire in January. they needed to have had at least one hour of commissioned programming broadcast in the uK in 2010, and still be in business. any omissions are therefore no longer trading, had a quiet 2010, or did not complete the survey. Companies are ranked based on their 2010 turnover or the most recent full year for which ﬁgures are available. Where turnovers are equal, the company with the most hours of production is ranked higher. Producers that are part of a super-indie or owned by a broadcaster or studio that opted not to break out the turnovers of their production subsidiaries are not listed in the league table, but their turnovers are included in the top owners’ table. Individual broadcaster league tables of indies, ranked by volume and spend, were supplied by the broadcasters themselves.

62%

Say the recession has hit the number of commissions

54%

Say it has had an impact on proﬁtability

plan to make investments in in-house post-production in the near future. One issue concerns indie sector bosses more than any other. While 9% are worried about the lack of commissions and just 3% about their ability to finance programme-making, a whopping 31% cite decreasing budgets from broadcasters as cause for concern. The good news is that the rate at which broadcasters are cutting budgets is slowing. In 2009, 39% of indies reported their budgets in 2009 were down by 10-20%. In 2010, only 21% reported budgets down by this amount, with 76% of indies reporting budget falls of less than 10%.

Cutting costs Zodiak’s Frank advises that while budget cuts are an inevitable fact of life, they can also be an opportunity. “If you can find a way to deliver programmes at that lower cost by adapting ideas and production processes, then that gives you a competitive advantage,” he says. “If a broadcaster is going to pay 10% less, you have to see if you can make it for 10% less without reducing the quality. “It’s a creative challenge as well. If you can come up with compelling ideas that can be made less expensively than other ideas, then you are delivering the same audiences to broadcasters at a much lower cost. “It’s about making that mental adjustment. In that respect, these times are tough financially but intellectually interesting.” Our survey found 73% of indies felt the recession had a negative impact on their business in 2010, with 62% saying it had affected the number of commissions, and 54% that it had hit profits. 18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 5

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Indies 2011

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Top IndependenT companIes 1-29 Indie

Overall turnover 2010 (£m)

Overall turnover 2009 (£m)

Change (%)

Pre-tax profit 2010 (£m)

Key shows

Original hours 2010

Talkback Thames (Fremantle)

145.00

139.00

4.32

The X Factor; Britain’s Got Talent; The Apprentice; Over The Rainbow; QI; Celebrity Juice

Hit Entertainment

143.61

157.20

-8.60

49.92

Kudos Film and TV (Shine)

54.00

41.00

31.71

Spooks; Law & Order UK; Ashes to Ashes; Lip Service; Hustle

Tiger Aspect (Endemol)

47.80

64.00

-25.31

Secret Diary of A Call Girl; Benidorm; Me & My Monsters; The Deep; Tinga Tinga Tales

Shine TV (Shine)

43.40

37.30

16.35

Lime Pictures (All3Media)

40.86

46.82

-12.72

Company Pictures (All3Media)

40.00

39.70

0.76

Hours of repeats 2010

Full-time staff

437.00

108

220

42.50

132.00

5,186.00

Merlin; MasterChef; Don’t Stop Believing; The Magicians; Got To Dance

105.00

532.00

Hollyoaks; Hollyoaks Later; The Only Way Is Essex; Ingenious; The Season

159.50

137.50

326

Shameless; Skins; Wild At Heart; George Gently; The Silence

41.00

14.50

101.00

264

Thomas & Friends; Bob The Builder; Fireman Sam; Angelina Ballerina: Next Steps

Twofour

33.00

24.30

35.80

The Hotel Inspector; 100 Greatest Toys With Jonathan Ross; Night Of Heroes

Avalon TV (Avalon)

31.00

24.00

29.17

Harry Hill’s TV Burp; Russell Howard’s Good News; Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show

Optomen/One Potato Two Potato (All3M)

29.10

22.70

28.19

Great British Waste Menu; Heston’s Feasts; Market Kitchen; Mary Queen Of Shops

226.00

1,000.00

Studio Lambert (All3Media)

26.10

3.80

586.84

Undercover Boss; Three In A Bed; Four In A Bed; The Fairy Jobmother; Seven Days

42.00

Princess Productions (Shine)

25.00

13.60

83.82

Got To Dance; Must Be The Music; The Wright Stuff; Something For The Weekend; T4

526.50

491.00

110

Carnival Film & Television (NBC)

25.00

36.50

-31.51

Downton Abbey; Any Human Heart; Whitechapel; Material Girl

22.00

880.00

Hat Trick Productions

24.80

19.60

26.53

Have I Got News For You; Outnumbered; Dinner Date; Facejacker

56.00

47.00

Sunset + Vine (Tinopolis)

24.00

BBC Horse Racing; Mobil 1 The Grid

856.00

Lion TV (All3Media)

24.00

21.30

12.68

Pompeii – Life & Death in a Roman Town; Horrible Histories; Edwardian Farm; First Light

155.00

200.00

100

Mentorn Media (Tinopolis)

23.00

Question Time; An Idiot Abroad; Ask The Chancellors; Underage And Pregnant

173.50

0.00

Bentley Productions (All3Media)

23.00

22.28

3.25

Midsomer Murders

16.00

194.00

North One TV (All3Media)

22.60

23.40

-3.42

Fifth Gear; Gadget Show; The Unforgettables; WRC; The Hospital

146.00

100.00

Objective Productions (All3Media)

21.60

23.00

-6.09

The Cube; Pete Versus Life; John Bishop’s Britain; Peep Show; Derren Brown – Enigma

125.00

495.00

Left Bank Pictures

21.16

13.09

61.65

Wallander; Married Single Other; Strike Back; Father And Son; DCI Banks

27.00

9.00

8.00

600

27.00

1,637.00

Aardman1

20.00

0.00

Wallace & Gromit’s World Of Invention; Shaun The Sheep; Timmy Time

Darlow Smithson (Endemol)

19.60

15.80

24.05

Stephen Hawking’s Universe; I Shouldn't Be Alive; Concorde’s Last Flight

RDF TV (Zodiak)

19.44

28.09

-30.79

The Secret Millionaire; Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents; Dickinson’s Real Deal

238.00

114

Maverick Television (All3Media)

16.03

13.20

21.44

Embarrassing Bodies; How to Look Good Naked; Children’s Hospital; Bizarre ER; Sectioned

107.00

192.00

Leopard Films

15.00

13.00

15.38

The Day The Immigrants Left; Is Oral Sex Safe?; Missing; Househunters International

208.00

200.00

Open Mike Productions

15.00

9.18

63.40

Apollo; Comedy Roadshow; Chatty Man; Stand Up For The Week; Rich Hall's Dirty South

54.00

109.00

The Foundation (Zodiak)

14.13

9.77

44.63

Waybuloo; Summer In Transylvania; Scorpion Island; Dani’s House

45.00

Touchpaper (Zodiak)

13.10

6.82

92.08

Being Human; Single-Handed

14.00

1: provisional figures

Over The Rainbow: Talkback Thames www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Downton Abbey: Carnival Film & TV

An Idiot Abroad: Mentorn Media 18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 7

➤

Indies 2011

In association with

compact

media group

Top IndependenT companIes 30-58 Indie

Overall turnover 2010 (£m)

Overall turnover 2009 (£m)

Change (%)

Pre-tax profit 2010 (£m)

Key shows

Original hours 2010

Hours of repeats 2010

Full-time staff

IWC (Zodiak)

12.46

13.22

-5.75

Extreme Fishing; Location Location Location; Lost Kingdoms Of Africa; Genius Of Britain

88.00

Pulse Films

12.00

3.50

242.86

Pineapple Dance Studios; Louie Spence Showbusiness; Take That – Look Back, Don’t Stare

35.00

280.00

Input Media

11.70

15.00

-22.00

0.05

UEFA Europa League Highlights; The FA Cup Preview; French Open Tennis

1,204.00

125

Rondo Media

11.40

10.30

10.68

Rownd A Rownd; Sgorio; Dudley: Pryd O Ser

264.00

157.00

Big Talk Productions

10.53

6.07

73.48

Rev; Him & Her

6.00

27.00

Parthenon Entertainment

10.50

9.90

6.06

1.90

Mystery Files; Wild Russia; Indian Tiger

40.00

100.00

CPL

10.20

A League Of Their Own; All Star Mr & Mrs; Magic Numbers; Alex Read: The Fight Of His Life

47.00

200.00

Dragonfly (Shine)

10.00

9.00

11.11

One Born Every Minute; The Family

14.00

Red Production Company

10.00

Worried About The Boy; Single Father

5.50

0.00

Atlantic Productions

9.30

7.10

31.00

David Attenborough’s First Life; Rome Unwrapped; Flying Monsters 3D

27.00

45.00

164.00

Spun Gold TV

9.05

7.30

24.00

0.72

The Alan Titchmarsh Show; When Piers Met Lord Sugar; The Michael Ball Show

Pioneer Productions (Tinopolis)

9.00

15.00

-40.00

Journey To The Edge Of The Universe; Buried Alive – Chile Mine Rescue; Iceland Volcano

20.00

0.00

So Television2

9.00

8.00

12.50

0.90

The Graham Norton Show; Sorry, I’ve Got No Head

34.50

21.50

Fresh One Productions

8.50

5.50

54.55

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals; An African Journey With Jonathan Dimbleby

40.00

Clerkenwell Films

8.30

Misfits

7.00

6.00

Mammoth Screen

8.20

3.45

137.68

0.01

Joe Maddison’s War; Bouquet Of Barbed Wire; Amanda Holden’s Fantasy Lives; Margot

8.50

6.50

Nutopia

7.60

0.54

America: The Story of Us; 9/11: State Of Emergency; The House That Made Me

16.50

0.00

22.00

14.00

10.00

2,000.00

24.00

Doc Martin; Horsepower; Man To Manta

3.00

30.00

Primeval; Buzz & Tell; Digging For Britain; Blitz Street; Making History

15.00

25.00

Betty TV

7.50

7.00

7.14

Fitter Than A Pensioner; Country House Rescue; Promzillas; Wedding House

Raw TV

7.40

7.90

-6.33

Neighbourhood Watched; Gold Rush Alaska; Battlefront; Sleeping Beauty; Banged Up Abroad

Somethin’ Else3

7.30

7.20

1.39

Evo Music Rooms; SuperMe; Gardeners’ Question Time; 606; The Ronnie Wood Show

Buffalo Pictures

6.98

2.07

237.20

0.46

Impossible Pictures

Baby Cow

Splash Media

6.60

11.605

-43.10

6.56

6.70

-2.09

1.35

Ideal; Chekhov: Comedy Shorts; The Trip; Lizzie And Sarah; FHM Stand Up Hero

15.75

100.00

6.10

0.30

Piers Morgan On…

18.00

170.00

25.00

8.50

Icon Films

5.62

3.45

62.90

Headhunters Of World War II; Beast Hunter; A Million Snakebites; River Monsters

October Films

5.60

3.80

47.37

Rude Tube; The Hunt For Britain's Sex Traffickers; Sun, Sea & A&E

46.00

70.00

Keo Films

5.60

4.60

21.74

0.65

Welcome To Lagos; 3 Hungry Boys; Amish: World’s Squarest Teenagers; River Cottage Everyday

26.00

The Comedy Unit (Zodiak)

5.30

2.58

105.43

Rab C Nesbitt; Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights; Gary: Tank Commander; Burnistoun

27.50

12.00

Windfall Films

5.23

4.83

8.28

0.58

Inside Nature’s Giants; Animal Mega Moves; RI Lectures; Monster Moves; Lost Ships

15.00

1: provisional figure; 2: turnover/profit to 31.07.10; 3: programming hours includes radio; 4: to 30.6.10; 5: estimated; 6: year to 31.03.10

Pineapple Dance Studios: Pulse Films 8 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

Rev: Big Talk

Welcome To Lagos: Keo Films www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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Indies 2011 Top IndependenT companIes 59-114 Indie

Overall turnover 2010 (£m)

Overall turnover 2009 (£m)

Change (%)

Pre-tax profit 2010 (£m)

Key shows

Original hours 2010

Hours of repeats 2010

Full-time staff

Outline Productions

5.21

5.20

0.19

Jo Frost: Extreme Parenting; The Secret Tourist; Fat Families; Fat Families Second Helpings

30.00

90.00

Blast! Films

5.18

4.93

5.07

0.11

Coppers; Lennon; On the Streets; Muslim Driving School; Big School Lottery

17.50

4.50

Tigress (Endemol)

5.13

7.20

-28.75

Everest: Beyond The Limit; Monty Halls’ Great Hebridean Escape

20.00

576.00

Antix Productions

5.08

5.62

-9.61

0.88

Most Haunted; Most Haunted Live; Ghosthunting With…

74.00

Zig Zag1

5.00

10.00

-50.00

World Cup’s Most Shocking Moments; Back On The Job; The Truth Behind Zombies

39.00

75.00

Fever Media

5.00

4.00

25.00

0.20

Dancing On Wheels; Bill Bailey’s Birdwatching Bonanza

24.00

Cactus (All3Media)

4.90

12.70

-61.42

Saturday Kitchen; TV Book Club; ITV Crime Series

101.00

15.00

Firecracker Films2

4.80

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding; Glamour Models Mum And Me; Wrong Turn: The Kati Kim Story

16.00

ETV

4.45

6.10

-27.05

Gala TV; Push

2,920.00

5.00

Tern TV

4.40

5.00

-12.00

0.02

Beauty Of Maps; Beauty Of Diagrams; Delphi – Bellybutton Of The Ancient World

54.00

True North Productions

4.26

4.25

0.24

0.60

Animal 24:7; Stealing Shakespeare; Real Crime – PC Sharon Beshenivsky; Britain’s Underworld

75.00

330.00

DLT Entertainment

4.15

5.05

-17.82

0.20

My Family

4.50

195.00

Darrall Macqueen

4.12

2.30

79.13

0.89

Pet Squad; Magic Baby; The Fluffy Club; Bear Behaving Badly

57.00

340.00

Bwark Productions

4.00

5.00

-20.00

1.60

The Inbetweeners; The Persuasionists

4.50

12.00

Monkey Kingdom (NBC)

4.00

6.90

-42.03

Comedy Roast; Young, Dumb And Living Off Mum; Newlyweds; Henry 8.0

Liberty Bell (Avalon)

4.00

0.00

Grouchy Young Men; Three Men Go To Ireland; Songbook; The Book Show

Kindle Entertainment3

3.95

7.05

-43.97

0.64

2.75

804.00

Electric Sky

3.90

3.74

4.28

Britain’s Fattest Man; The World’s Fattest Man; First Love; Eating Art

106.00

261.00

Presentable (Zodiak)

3.90

2.91

34.02

Only Connect; Late Night Poker; The Poker Lounge; Oz And Hugh Raise The Bar

53.50

Green Inc Film & Television

3.86

2.85

35.44

Ask Rhod Gilbert; The Many Faces Of Alison Steadman; Four Live; The Daily Show; Sketchy

131.50

118.00

Wag TV

3.75

2.90

29.31

0.60

How Do They Do It?; Ancient X Files; Britain's Trillion Pound Horror Story; X Machines

30.00

50.00

Remedy Productions

3.50

3.70

-5.41

Freshly Squeezed; Gonzo; Suck My Pop; NME Awards; Radio One Teen Awards

700.00

Blink Films

3.50

0.00

The Miliband Of Brothers; Real Stories; Chinese Food In Minutes; How to Take Stunning Pictures

25.00

30.00

Plum Pictures4

3.50

3.20

9.37

James May’s Man Lab; Secret Med With Trevor McDonald: E Numbers: An Edible Adventure

13.50

95.50

Telesgop Cyf

3.19

0.15

Porthmon; Ffermio; Bro; Royal Welsh Show; Sgota; Sing Your Heart Out

82.00

136.00

Illumina Digital

3.05

0.26

Better Learning With ICT; On Top Of The Digital World; Copykatz Beware

3.00

Thumbs Up Productions

3.00

Britain’s Next Top Model; Kitchen Sink To Catwalk; School Mum Makeover

45.00

100.00

Walsh Brothers

2.90

2.10

38.10

1.80

My Life; Karate Kids; Toy Soldiers; ToryBoy

11.00

7.00

Some Dogs Bite; Jinx; Big And Small; My Spy Family; Harry Potter – Behind the Magic

1: Banijay until 24.09.10; 2: figures to 30.04.10; 3: figures to 31.03.10; 4: figures to 30.06.10

Coppers: Blast! Films 10 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

James May’s Man Lab: Plum Pictures

Britain’s Next Top Model: Thumbs Up www.broadcastnow.co.uk

In association with

compact

media group

Indie

Overall turnover 2010 (£m)

Overall turnover 2009 (£m)

Change (%)

Pre-tax profit 2010 (£m)

-0.55

5.30

-47.17

Hartswood Films

Freeform Productions

Quicksilver Media

2.60

3.00

-13.33

Gogglebox Entertainment

2.60

2.68

CTVC

2.60

Pacific

2.84

Key shows

Original hours 2010

Sherlock

Hours of repeats 2010

Full-time staff

4.50

150.00

A Place In The Sun; Dream Lives For Sale; Home Or Away; The Gemma Factor

30.00

Unreported World; Secret Iraq

14.50

-2.99

Impossible; Stand Out From The Crowd; Plain Jane

12.00

24.00

Too Old To Be A Mum?

4.00

10.00

2.56

1.87

36.90

Nigella Kitchen; Baking Made Easy; Barefoot Contessa

9.50

142.00

Flame TV (Avalon)

2.50

2.40

4.17

Heir Hunters; Saints & Scroungers; Don't Get Done, Get Dom

24.50

49.00

Impossible TV

2.50

1.20

108.33

Gaspard & Lisa; Castle Farm

2.00

65.00

Summer Films

2.50

My Shocking Story: Octoboy

1.00

28.00

Oxford Scientific Films

2.48

Britain’s Witch Children; Fatal Attractions; History Of The Safari

4.00

15.00

Pilot Film and TV

2.40

2.10

14.29

0.16

Globe Trekker; World Cafe; Planet Food; Metropolis; Bazaar

13.00

100.00

Magnum Media

2.30

Chris Moyles’ Quiz Night; When Moyles Met The Radio 1 Breakfast DJs

15.00

7.00

Bullseye Productions (Zodiak)

2.20

7.22

-69.53

The Living Cannibals; World’s Worst Weather; Pricing The Priceless; Toughest Race On Earth

8.00

50.00

100

Illuminations

2.20

2.00

10.00

0.03

Hamlet; Macbeth; Art Of Faith

6.00

3.00

101

Rival Media

2.18

0.15

Power Struggle; Mission Beach USA; What Shall We Do Today?; Diversity: The XD Challenge

9.50

50.00

102

Novel Entertainment

2.15

1.91

12.57

10.50

152.00

103

True Vision

2.10

1.83

14.75

0.03

Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children; Jobless; Lost Girls Of South Africa

9.00

18.00

104

Matchlight

2.10

At Home With The Georgians; Unequal Opportunities With John Humphrys

7.00

104

Great Meadow Productions

2.10

2.29

-8.30

When Harvey Met Bob

1.50

0.00

106

Topical Television (Avalon)

2.08

1.75

18.86

0.22

Real Rescues; One Show features

40.00

15.00

107

3DD Productions

2.00

1.80

11.11

0.01

Album Chart Show; Koko Pop; 360 Sessions; In Conversation; Discovering Lennon

50.00

150.00

107

Pett Productions

2.00

1.78

12.36

0.25

Shooting Stars; Angelos Epithemiou: Moving On

7.00

2.00

109

World’s End Television

1.80

0.00

Katy Brand Vs; Mark Watson Kicks Off

9.00

110

Cicada Bellwether Productions

1.75

Earth Wonders; Secrets Of The Tribe; Blame It On The Boogie; The Man With The Golden Gavel

2.00

0.00

111

Skyworks

1.70

0.37

South Africa Walks; German Wanderlust; Dan Snow’s Norman Walks

5.50

120.00

111

Reef Television

1.70

3.40

-50.00

8.00

113

Glasshead3

1.58

1.83

-13.66

0.51

Stuttering School; Missing: Claudia Lawrence; BBC Markets

13.00

4.00

114

Minnow Films

1.56

0.17

Scenes From A Teenage Killing; Cage Fighting Women; Four Sons versus Four Daughters

4.00

9.00

2.80

Horrid Henry

Dealers: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

1: 2009 figure; 2: 2008 figure; 3: turnover/profit to 31.03.10

Sherlock: Hartswood Films www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Heir Hunters: Flame TV

Shooting Stars: Pett Productions 18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 11

➤

Indies 2011

fountain Everything under one roof

Top IndependenT companIes 115-141 Indie

Overall turnover 2010 (£m)

Overall turnover 2009 (£m)

Change (%)

Pre-tax profit 2010 (£m)

115

Back2Back

1.50

1.20

25.00

0.31

115

Raw Cut

1.50

2.20

-31.81

115

Fulcrum

1.50

0.00

115

Channel X/ Channel K1

1.50

0.14

119

Iambic Productions

1.46

1.10

32.73

0.54

120

Century Films2

1.44

121

Attaboy

1.31

8.70

-84.94

122

Juniper

1.30

1.20

8.33

122

Testimony Films

1.30

1.80

-27.78

124

Giant Film & TV

1.05

1.16

-9.48

125

Seventh Art Productions

1.00

1.20

-16.67

0.03

125

Hardcash Productions

1.00

0.80

25.00

0.13

127

The Proudfoot Company

0.95

0.70

35.71

0.08

128

Lambent

0.84

1.10

-23.64

0.09

129

Colonial Pictures

0.80

0.00

129

Dartmouth Films

0.80

0.90

-11.11

131

Red Planet Pictures

0.70

132

Talent Television

0.64

1.84

-65.22

133

Rise Films

0.50

0.30

66.70

133

Quickfire Media

0.50

135

Televisionary

0.47

1.25

-62.40

0.03

136

Caledonia TV Productions

0.40

-0.06

137

Tigerlily Films

0.39

0.50

-22.00

0.06

138

Matchbox TV

0.35

0.10

139

Turn On Television

0.30

0.03

140

UBC Media/Smooth Operations

0.18

-0.45

141

AMG Television

0.10

0.01

0.05

0.00 0.063 0.02 -

1: figures to 31.07.10; 2: figures for year to August 2009; 3: 2009 figure; 4: year to 31.09.09

Police Interceptors: Raw Cut 12 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

The Taking Of Prince Harry: Juniper www.broadcastnow.co.uk

rofit m)

In association with

compact

media group

Key shows

Original hours 2010

Hours of repeats 2010

Full-time staff

The Hunks; Extraordinary Dogs; Responsible Business TV; Dom Joly And The Black Island

22.00

32.00

Police Interceptors

16.00

750.00

Saxon Gold: Finding The Hoard; It Shouldn’t Happen At A Vets; Black Market Britain

3.00

Jason Manford Live; DOA; Hung Out

2.00

20.00

Placido Domingo – My Favourite Roles; The Lost Concert

5.00

2.00

Cannabis: Britain’s Secret Farms; Ambreen: The Girl Boxer; Young, Angry And White; Scams

3.50

Wheeler Dealers

10.00

1,500.00

My Father, The Bomb And Me; The Trouble With The Pope; The Taking Of Prince Harry

57.50

3.50

A Century Of Fatherhood; Hop Skip And Jump; Britain’s Secret Schindler

12.00

15.00

The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Specials; Bullrun: New York To Texas; Lost: The End Is Nigh

18.50

52.50

Chopin In Warsaw; Tim Marlow On…; The Making Of Swallows And Amazons

50.00

500.00

Britain’s Secret Slave; Undercover Social Worker; Post Office Undercover

50.00

5.00

Close Up…

2.50

Teen Undertaker; One Under; Hansel And Gretel

3.00

Britain’s Greatest Ships; Auction; Dream Homes

25.00

160.00

The War You Don't See; The Battle For Barking; The Kids Britain Doesn’t Want

4.00

0.00

The Nativity; Crash

9.00

3.00

Fred Dineage On The Krays; Damilola: Death Of A Ten Year Old; Fred Dineage Crime Stories

2.00

40.00

Rough Aunties; Cowboys In India; Road To Las Vegas

5.00

0.00

Revealed: The Virgin Queen’s Fatal Affair; Secrets Of The Arabian Nights

2.00

Ultimate Ulster

5.00

10.00

The Lighthouse Stevensons; The Father Of Australia; Caileagan An Airm (Army Girls)

4.50

7.00

My BarMitzvah Diary; The Market; Alexis Arquette: She’s My Brother

3.00

127 Hours: T4 Movie Special; Raavan World Premiere; Cemetery Junction: T4 Movie Special

6.00

18.00

When Love Turns Lethal; Conmen Case Files

5.00

50.00

Cambridge Folk Festival

6.00

45.00

264.00

Ma5da MX5 Racing; 750 Motorclub Racing; TVR Shallenge; BRSCC Racing

Space from 3,000 to 13,000sqft HD fully integrated 5.1 sound suite Flexible and competitive rates Audiences from 1 -1001 Outstanding catering and hospitality For more information: 020 8900 5800 ftv.co.uk

Undercover Social Worker: Hardcash Productions www.broadcastnow.co.uk

18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 13

Indies 2011 ‘true’ indies top 30 producers not owned by a larger group Indie 1

Hit Entertainment

Twofour

Overall turnover 2010 (£m)

Overall turnover 2009 (£m)

Change (%)

Pre-tax profit 2010 (£m)

Key shows

Original hours 2010

Hours of repeats 2010

Full-time staff

143.61

157.20

-8.60

49.92

Thomas & Friends; Bob The Builder; Fireman Sam; Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps

220

33.00

24.30

35.80

The Hotel Inspector; 100 Greatest Toys With Jonathan Ross; Night Of Heroes; My Funniest Year

101.00

264

Avalon TV

31.00

24.00

29.17

Harry Hill’s TV Burp; Russell Howard’s Good News; Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show

Hat Trick

24.80

19.60

26.53

Have I Got News For You; Outnumbered; Dinner Date; Facejacker

56.00

47.00

27.00

9.00

Left Bank Pictures

21.16

13.09

61.65

Wallander; Married Single Other; Strike Back; Father And Son; DCI Banks

Aardman

20.00

0.00

Wallace & Gromit’s World Of Invention; Shaun The Sheep; Timmy Time

8.00

600

208.00

200.00

Leopard Films

15.00

13.00

15.38

The Day The Immigrants Left; Is Oral Sex Safe?; Missing; Househunters International; Man Caves

Open Mike

15.00

9.18

63.40

Live At The Apollo; Comedy Roadshow; Chatty Man; Stand Up For The Week; Rich Hall’s Dirty South

54.00

109.00

Pineapple Dance Studios; Louie Spence Showbusiness; Take That – Look Back, Don’t Stare

35.00

280.00

Pulse Films

12.00

3.50

242.86

Input Media

11.70

15.00

-22.00

0.05

UEFA Europa League Highlights; The FA Cup Preview; French Open Tennis

1,204.00

125

Rondo Media

11.40

10.30

10.68

Rownd A Rownd; The Indian Doctor; Sgorio; Dudley: Pryd O Ser

264.00

157.00

Big Talk Productions

10.53

6.07

73.48

Rev; Him & Her

6.00

27.00

Parthenon Entertainment

10.50

9.90

6.06

1.90

Mystery Files; Wild Russia; Indian Tiger

40.00

100.00

47.00

200.00

5.50

0.00

27.00

45.00

164.00

34.5

21.50

40.00

CPL

10.20

A League Of Their Own; All Star Mr & Mrs; Magic Numbers; Louis Walsh & Kian Egan’s Next Big Thing

Red Production Company

10.00

Worried About The Boy; Single Father David Attenborough’s First Life; Rome Unwrapped; Flying Monsters 3D; Engineering The Impossible

Atlantic Productions

9.30

7.10

31.00

Spun Gold TV

9.05

7.30

24.00

0.72

The Alan Titchmarsh Show; When Piers Met Lord Sugar; The Michael Ball Show

So Television

9.00

8.00

12.50

0.90

The Graham Norton Show; Pixelface

Fresh One

8.50

5.50

54.55

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals; Africa With Jonathan Dimbleby

Clerkenwell Films

8.30

Misfits

7.00

6.00

Mammoth Screen

8.20

3.45

137.68

0.01

Joe Maddison’s War; Bouquet Of Barbed Wire; Amanda Holden’s Fantasy Lives; Margot; Dappers

8.50

6.50

16.50

0.00

Nutopia

7.60

0.54

America: The Story of Us; 9/11: State of Emergency; The House That Made Me

Betty TV

7.50

7.00

7.14

Fitter Than A Pensioner; Country House Rescue; Promzillas

22.00

14.00

10.00

*2,000.00

24.00

Raw TV

7.40

7.90

-6.33

Neighbourhood Watched’ Gold Rush Alaska; Battlefront; Sleeping Beauty; Banged Up Abroad

Somethin’ Else

7.30

7.20

1.39

Evo Music Rooms; SuperMe; Gardeners’ Question Time; 606; The Ronnie Wood Show

Buffalo

6.98

2.07

237.20

0.46

3.00

30.00

Primeval; Buzz & Tell; Digging For Britain; Blitz Street; Making History

15.00

25.00

Doc Martin; Islands Of Britain

Impossible Pictures

6.60

11.60

-43.10

Baby Cow

6.56

6.70

-2.09

1.35

Ideal; Chekhov: Comedy Shorts; The Trip; Lizzie And Sarah; FHM Stand Up Hero

15.75

100.00

Splash Media

6.10

0.30

Piers Morgan On…

18.00

170.00

Icon Films

5.62

3.45

62.90

Headhunters Of World War; Beast Hunter; A Million Snakebites; River Monsters

25.00

8.50

*includes radio hours

The Hotel Inspector: Twofour 14 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

The Day The Immigrants Left: Leopard Films

Flying Monsters 3D: Atlantic Productions www.broadcastnow.co.uk

In association with

compact

media group

‘owned’ indies top 30 producers owned by a larger group* Indie

Overall turnover 2010 (£m)

Overall turnover 2009 (£m)

Change (%)

Pre-tax profit 2010 (£m)

Key shows

Original hours 2010

Hours of repeats 2010

Full-time staff

Talkback Thames (Fremantle)

145.00

139.00

4.32

The X Factor; BGT; The Apprentice; Over The Rainbow; QI; Celebrity Juice

437.00

108

Kudos Film and TV (Shine)

54.00

41.00

31.71

Spooks; Law & Order UK; Ashes To Ashes; Lip Service; Hustle

42.50

Tiger Aspect (Endemol)

47.80

64.00

-25.31

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl; Benidorm; Me & My Monsters; The Deep; Tinga Tinga Tales

132.00

5,186.00

Shine TV (Shine)

43.40

37.30

16.35

Merlin, MasterChef; Don’t Stop Believing, The Magicians, Got To Dance

105.00

532.00

Lime Pictures (All3Media)

40.86

46.82

-12.72

Hollyoaks; Hollyoaks Later; The Only Way Is Essex; Ingenious; The Season; Hollyoaks Music Show

159.50

137.50

326

Company Pictures (All3Media)

40.00

39.70

0.76

Shameless; Skins; Wild At Heart; George Gently; The Silence

41.00

14.50

Optomen/One Potato Two Potato (All3M)

29.10

22.70

28.19

Great British Waste Menu; Heston’s Feasts; Market Kitchen; Mary Queen Of Shops

226.00

1,000.00

Studio Lambert (All3Media)

26.10

3.80

586.84

Undercover Boss; Three In A Bed; Four In A Bed; The Fairy Jobmother; Seven Days

42.00

Carnival Film & Television (NBC)

22.00

880.00

9 11

Princess Productions (Shine) Sunset + Vine (Tinopolis)

25.00

36.50

-31.51

Downton Abbey; Any Human Heart; Whitechapel; Material Girl

25.00

13.60

83.82

Got To Dance; Must Be The Music; The Wright Stuff; Something For The Weekend; T4

526.50

491.00

110

24.00

BBC Horse Racing; Mobil 1 The Grid

856.00

24.00

21.30

12.68

Pompeii – Life And Death In A Roman Town; Horrible Histories; Edwardian Farm; First Light

155.00

200.00

100

Question Time; An Idiot Abroad; Ask The Chancellors; Underage And Pregnant

173.50

0.00

3.25

Midsomer Murders

16.00

194.00

146.00

100.00

125.00

495.00

Lion TV (All3Media)

Mentorn Media (Tinopolis)

23.00

Bentley Productions (All3Media)

23.00

22.28

North One TV (All3Media)

22.60

23.40

-3.42

Fifth Gear; Gadget Show; The Unforgettables; WRC; The Hospital

Objective Productions (All3Media)

21.60

23.00

-6.09

The Cube; Pete Versus Life; John Bishop’s Britain; Peep Show; Derren Brown – Enigma Stage Tour

Darlow Smithson (Endemol)

19.60

15.80

24.05

Stephen Hawking’s Universe; I Shouldn't Be Alive; Concorde’s Last Flight

27.00

1,637.00

RDF TV (Zodiak)

19.44

28.09

-30.79

The Secret Millionaire; Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents

238.00

114

Maverick Television (All3Media)

16.03

13.20

21.44

Embarrassing Bodies, How To Look Good Naked, Children’s Hospital; Bizarre ER; Sectioned

107.00

192.00

The Foundation (Zodiak)

14.13

9.77

44.63

Waybuloo; Summer In Transylvania; Scorpion Island; Dani’s House; Mister Maker Comes To Town

45.00

Touchpaper (Zodiak)

13.10

6.82

92.08

Being Human; Single-Handed

14.00

88.00

IWC (Zodiak)

12.46

13.22

-5.75

Extreme Fishing; Location Location Location; Lost Kingdoms Of Africa; Genius Of Britain

Dragonfly (Shine)

10.00

9.00

11.11

One Born Every Minute; The Family

14.00

Pioneer Productions (Tinopolis)

9.00

15.00

-40.00

Journey To The Edge Of The Universe; Buried Alive – Chile Mine Rescue; Iceland Volcano

20.00

0.00

The Comedy Unit (Zodiak)

5.30

2.58

105.43

Rab C Nesbitt; Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights; Gary: Tank Commander; Burnistoun

27.50

12.00

20.00

576.00

Tigress (Endemol)

5.13

7.20

-28.75

The One Show; Everest: Beyond The Limit; Monty Hall’s Great Hebridean Escape; Maneaters

Cactus (All3Media)

4.90

12.70

-61.42

Saturday Kitchen; TV Book Club; ITV crime series

101.00

15.00

Monkey Kingdom (NBC)

4.00

6.90

-42.03

Young, Dumb And Living Off Mum; Comedy Roast

Presentable (Zodiak)

3.90

2.91

34.02

Only Connect; Late Night Poker; The Poker Lounge; Oz And Hugh Raise The Bar

53.50

Heir Hunters; Saints And Scroungers; Don’t Get Done, Get Dom

24.50

49.00

Flame TV (Avalon)

2.50

2.40

4.17

*Not all owners chose to break down subsidiary data

Benidorm: Tiger Aspect www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Undercover Boss: Studio Lambert

Being Human: Touchpaper 18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 15

Indies 2011 TOP OWNERS/CONSOLIDATORS

Super-indies:

the big get bigger

Consolidation of the super-indies heated up last year, with Zodiak taking over RDF and Time Warner buying a stake in Shed as media giants looked for new revenues. David Wood reports

f the pace of acquisition activity in independent production has cooled over the past couple of years, the long-predicted consolidation of the consolidators has been heating up. And not without reason. In 2009, owners/consolidators UK turnover was worth £905m; in 2010, it rose to almost £1.12m, up £211m (23.3%). With growth potential of that calibre in tough economic times, no wonder broadcasters and others are circling for a slice of the action. In the summer of 2010, Zodiak Entertainment bought RDF Media, while Time Warner took a controlling interest in Shed Media. Most recently, News Corporation kept it in the family with the £415m acquisition of Shine. All3Media is widely expected to be the next big name to be bought by a major media company. For broadcasters, the logic of indie ownership is simple: with little growth potential in their traditional markets of network broadcasting and advertising, ownership of intellectual property is seen as the way forward. It’s no surprise, insists Zodiak’s David Frank. “If I was a broadcaster, I would want to get into the content business because it’s more robust and sustainable than broadcasting.” All3Media tops the list of consolidators in the UK, with 2010 revenues of £240m, besting Endemol UK’s £237.6m. It’s some way to the next biggest: European broadcaster Fremantle, owner of Talkback Thames, posted revenues of £145m. Then comes Shine’s £133m. Zodiak, whose subsidiary The Comedy Unit made Frankie

16 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

£1.11bn

Value of owners/consolidators’ total UK turnover in 2010

The Gadget Show: All3Media-owned North One

Boyle’s Tramadol Nights (pictured, below), heads our list of global superindies, with a £418m turnover (the biggest global player, Endemol, declined to reveal its global turnover), followed by All3Media with £400m and Shine with £396m. The global list reveals how significant US producer Reveille is to Shine, making up £129m of its £396m global turnover (see box). Time Warner’s £56.9m UK turnover really belongs to Shed Group alone as the figure pre-dates the acquisition last year. This year we’ve included Avalon – which owns Flame, Liberty Bell, Topical and Tinderbox – and NBC,

‘All3Media is widely expected to be the next big name to be bought by a major media company’

owner of Carnival Films and Monkey Kingdom. Out goes Target Entertainment after its drama indie Greenlit Rights went into administration as part of the sale to Metrodome. The 2011 picture for super-indies is rosier still. All3Media chief Steve Morrison has underlined that a complete change in economic circumstances in the production market will help All3 head towards double-digit turnover growth in 2011. It’s a similar situation at Time Warners’ Shed Media. CEO Nick Southgate comments: “Our results will show top-line growth of maybe 15% because market conditions have improved dramatically since the middle of last year, with broadcasters such as ITV doing spectacularly well off the back of an advertising recovery.” www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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TOP OWNERS/CONSOLIDATORS 1-12 Company

UK turnover 2010 (£m)

UK turnover 2009 (£m)

Change (%)

Pre-tax profit (£m)

Amount from UK (%)

240.00

224.10

7.10

60.00

UK subsidiaries North One TV, Bentley Productions, Cactus TV, Optomen, One Potato Two Potato, Lion TV, Company Pictures, Lime Pictures, Maverick TV, Objective Productions, North One Sport, Studio Lambert, Illumina

All3Media

Endemol

237.56

225.00

5.58

Darlow Smithson Productions, Initial, Remarkable Television, Tigress productions, Tiger Aspect Productions, Zeppotron

Fremantle

145.00

139.00

4.32

Talkback Thames

Shine Group

133.00

100.96

31.74

34.00

Shine TV, Princess Productions, Kudos Film & Television, Dragonfly, Brown Eyed Boy

Zodiak Entertainment2

100.69

48.00

109.77

24.00

RDF Television, RDF Television West, IWC Media, Touchpaper Television, Presentable, The Comedy Unit, The Foundation, Diverse, Bullseye Productions, Dangerous Films

Tinopolis

72.00

70.00

2.86

Mentorn Media, Sunset + Vine, Pioneer

Time Warner

56.90

Shed Productions, Shed Media Scotland, Wall to Wall, Ricochet, Twenty Twenty Television, Watershed, KOCO Drama

Avalon

39.00

29.00

34.48

Avalon, Flame, Liberty Bell, Topical Television, Tinderbox Television

NBC

33.50

Carnival, Monkey Kingdom

Ten Alps

25.30

23.10

9.52

1.24

98.00

Boomerang+

21.41

19.76

8.35

0.71

DCD Media

11.60

38.00

Brook Lapping, Blakeway Productions, Below the Radar, Ten Alps Vision

Boomerang+, Indus Films, Fflic, Alfresco, Apollo, Mwnci

Done and Dusted, September, Prospect, Prospect Cymru, West Park Pictures, Matchlight (joint venture)

1: year to 31.08.10; 2: now incorporates RDF (2009 UK turnover £130.6m); 3: Shed Media figure for year to 31.12.09

SUPER-INDIES A GLOBAL VIEW To ensure that we compared like with like, Broadcast this year ranked all owners/consolidators by UK turnover. Once you look at the global market, a different picture emerges. Clearly the UK is still a small part of the business for the likes of Time Warner and NBC, though this could change with future acquisitions. But looking purely at the super-indie sector, and excepting Endemol’s reluctance to provide a global figure, Zodiak leads the way internationally with a turnover of £418.1m, just under a quarter of which comes from its UK operations, which have recently been swelled by its acquisition of RDF Media. All3Media posted global revenues of £400m in 2010 and its growing business in the US now accounts for almost 10% of this, thanks to the

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likes of Studio Lambert’s Undercover Boss and the US version of Objective Productions’ The Cube. This puts it just ahead of Shine, which turned over £396m and, of these groups, has by far the biggest footprint in the US. Via subsidiary Reveille, America accounts for almost a third of its revenues, putting it on an equal footing with the UK. Thanks to brand extensions such as

Who Do You Think You Are? (pictured), the Shed Group part of the Time Warner empire grew its global revenues from £81.9m in 2009 to £92.6m in 2010, with activity concentrated in the US and UK. The US is catching up in terms of turnover, pulling in £35.7m compared with the UK’s £56.9m. DCD and Ten Alps, which also posted global revenues, had a more modest global presence, though it’s worth noting that the US is a bigger market than the UK for DCD, accounting for £13.1m of its £30.5m revenues. Ten Alps pulls in an extra £500,000 through its small Asia subsidiary.

18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 17

Indies 2011 top suppliers

Big is best:

small firms lose ground

Large indie owners such as Fremantle and All3Media were the big winners again this year, while the BBC and Channel 4 were once again voted the best and worst broadcasters

BC1’s talent search Over The Rainbow brought its own pot of gold to Talkback Thames in 2010, helping to make the Fremantle-owned producer the most valuable indie supplier to the corporation. What’s more, it was also the top supplier to rival ITV. Indeed, with Hotsauce falling out of the top 10 following the demise of Jonathan Ross’ Friday night chat show, to be replaced by ITV Studiosowned Eggheads producer 12 Yard, the BBC’s top 10 suppliers by value list now contains not one indie that is not part of a bigger group. Things aren’t much different at ITV, with only Left Bank – part-owned by BBC Worldwide – and Alan Titchmarsh Show producer Spun Gold flying the flag for the ‘true’ indie. Over at Channel 4, it was down to Open Mike – leapfrogging Objective to become the broadcaster’s most valuable comedy supplier, thanks in part to the controversial Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights – to demonstrate that it’s not just about Endemol and All3Media at Horseferry Road. The vexed issue of terms of trade shows no signs of going away, with each of the five public service broadcasters singled out for criticism.

‘The BBC’s top 10 suppliers by value list now contains not one indie that is not part of a bigger group’

Indies called for greater transparency, with some claiming instances of commissioning under one tariff, such as daytime or for a digital channel, and then premiering the show in peak or on a main channel, to save money or retain more rights. There appears to be little alarm for Virgin suppliers now dealing with Sky – indeed, indies in general appear energised by the broadcaster’s commissioning ambitions – but the other big change of ownership has met with greater opprobrium.

Desmond under fire Richard Desmond might bring some eccentric showmanship to Channel 5, but you’d be pushed to find a kind word about it in the survey responses. Not one indie named it as the best broadcaster to deal with, and its share of ‘worst broadcaster’ votes more than doubled to 16.9% (the BBC and C4 once again led the way, an inevitable by-product of dealing with more indies than others). “Hostile” and “difficult to negotiate with” are two of the kinder comments. Finally, those indies engaging in digital content paint a gloomy picture of broadcasters’ efforts. Even C4,

BesT BroaDCasTer (% share) BBC Channel 4 Sky channels ITV Channel 5 Others

2011

2010

2009

41.4 25.7 13.1 11.8 0.0 9.2

46 20 3 16 4 11

29.1 18.2 6.4 12.7 8.2 25.4

WorsT BroaDCasTer (% share) BBC Channel 4 Channel 5 ITV Sky channels Discovery Other

2011

2010

2009

36.0 18.2 16.9 5.4 5.4 5.4 12.3

38 20 8 14 10 10

38.5 13.2 6.6 14.3 27.4

generally thought of as at the forefront of this nascent sector, took some stick for its “changing briefs, unreasonable demands creatively and budgetarily, not negotiating in good faith and reneging on agreements”. Indies were unsettled by “a lot of change” at the BBC, with one questioning whether its team had “the right skillset”.

33%

Total Wipeout: Endemol 18 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

Channel 4 Racing: Highflyer Productions

Dinner Date: Hat Trick Productions www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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BBC the Best and worst oF BroadCasters ➤ BBC Top suppliers (By hours) Company

Hours

Key shows

1 2

IMG Media Endemol

416.9 143.0

Snooker; Darts; The Football League Show Freak Like Me; Hotter Than My Daughter

Talkback Thames

130.4

Escape To The Country; Hospital Heroes

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Lion Television 122.8 Mentorn 115.5 12 Yard Productions 101.2 Leopard Films 93.5 Sunset + Vine 91.0 Shine 82.1 Indus Films 78.7

Victorian Pharmacy; Syrian School Cowboy Trap; Underage And Pregnant Celebrity Eggheads; Who Dares Wins Cash In The Attic; Filthy Rotten Scoundrels Horse Racing Band For Britain; History Cold Case Snooker: Welsh Open; Bowls

➤ BBC Top suppliers (By spenD) Company

Eggheads: 12 Yard

he BBC worked with a whopping 305 indies last year, more than four times as many as its nearest competitor, and nearly 30 more than 2009. The BBC won’t reveal the amount spent on indies over that time, and the proportion of spend relative to in-house, until the figures have been verified by Ofcom for its annual report, but a quick look at the top 10 suggests there may have been some changes. Talkback Thames was the top supplier by spend, boosted by its first year producing an Andrew Lloyd Webber talent show, Over The Rainbow, on top of The Apprentice (pictured) and QI. It also jumped up the ranks for hours commissioned, rising from eighth in 2009 to third place, behind stalwarts IMG Media and Endemol. Last year’s top dog by spend, Kudos, was in second place this year with returning series Ashes To Ashes, Hustle and Spooks. Tiger Aspect rose two places thanks to Blood And Oil, Grandma’s House and Me And My Monsters, but Shed, which first entered the top 10 last year, fell five places to seventh. Despite this movement within the lead suppliers,

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only one new indie – 12 Yard Productions – emerged in the value table. Quiz shows Eggheads and In It To Win It propelled it ahead of Lion and Mentorn. While it continued to supply the most hours to the BBC, IMG remained out of the top 10 for spend. But the BBC was yet again the most divisive of the broadcasters, with indies describing it as both the best and worst customer to deal with. They gave a thumbs up to its quick responses on commissioning matters and overall transparency, while cash flow and budget terms were also seen as more attractive than other broadcasters. However, others complained of excessive bureaucracy, inefficiency, poor communication, arrogance and greed. Overall, however, the picture is slightly worse now than a year ago: although the number of indies slating the BBC dropped from 38% to 36%, the number rating it the best broadcaster to work with also fell, to 41% from 46% last year. As indicated in some of the comments (see box), it appears the BBC may have to do its homework if it is to keep pace with Channel 4 and Sky.

Key shows

1 2

Talkback Thames The Apprentice; QI; Over The Rainbow Kudos Film and Television Ashes To Ashes; Hustle; Spooks

Shine

Merlin; MasterChef; Most Annoying People

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Tiger Aspect Endemol Wall to Wall Shed Productions 12 Yard Productions Lion Television Mentorn

Blood And Oil; Grandma’s House; Me And My Monsters Total Wipeout; 101 Ways To Leave A Gameshow New Tricks; Who Do You Think You Are? Waterloo Road; Garrow's Law Eggheads; In It To Win It Edwardian Farm; Homes Under the Hammer Question Time; The Big Questions; Motorway Cops Source: BBC

what the indies say pros “Striving to make relations with indies work”

Cons “Fundamentally they don’t really want nor need the independents”

“By far the easiest and most straightforward to deal with”

“Still lots of inconsistency and red tape to wade through”

“Despite long delays and lengthy decision-making, the resultant budgets are not totally unrealistic”

“Can at times seem inconsistent on what can and can’t be released for secondary UK sales”

“Much more accessible than in the past”

“Still hard to fathom their wants and needs”

BroadCaster response

Jane McCloskey Head of supplier management, commissioning

“We already have very strong relationships with indies. We want the BBC to go even further and become the best place in the industry to do business. The WoCC shows the indie community is already performing strongly and we want to ensure it continues to do so. Through the work we are doing with the Delivering Quality First workstreams, we are engaging closely with indies to see if there are other things we can do.”

18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 19

Indies 2011 top suppliers itV FallinG spend ➤ iTV Top suppliers (By hours) Company

Hours

Key shows

1 2

Talkback Thames Spun Gold

201 156

Take Me Out; Britain’s Got Talent; The X Factor Alan Titchmarsh Show; Michael Ball Show

RDF

101

Dickinson’s Real Deal; Secret Dealers

4 5 6 6 8 9 9

Endemol Prospect Pictures Hat Trick Tiger Aspect Can 2WayTraffic Bentley

54 40 29 29 22 19 18

Divided; Whole 19 Yards; Soccer Aid Daily Cooks Challenge Dinner Date Benidorm; The Seasons; Ladies of Letters Peter Andre – Next Chapter; Kerry Katona Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Midsomer Murders

➤ iTV Top suppliers (By spenD)

Midsomer Murders: Bentley Productions

TV spend on independent producers decreased for the second year in a row, falling from £270-280m in 2009, to just £250-260m last year. The continued impact of the recession was undoubtedly a factor as TV advertising revenues only made a tentative recovery. There was little change in its investment in independently produced original content versus that produced in-house, the former accounting for 49% of spend – only slightly down on the previous year’s figure of 52%. A total of 74 indies clinched commissions last year across ITV’s catalogue of channels. Again this was a slight decrease on 2009, when the broadcaster worked with 83 production companies. Fremantle Media-owned Talkback Thames was easily ITV’s biggest partner by spend and hours for the second year in a row. With a slate that includes Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor, this is hardly surprising, even if The Bill was taken off air. Endemol, which charted in second place in both categories for 2009, slipped down the list, overtaken by The Alan Titchmarsh Show

(pictured) producer Spun Gold and RDF on top suppliers by hours. Midsomer Murders producer Bentley Productions leapfrogged Endemol in the spend table. Drama specialist Left Bank Pictures was a new entrant, as was Downton Abbey and Whitechapel producer Carnival Films, while indie/agency Can Associates cemented its place in the ITV league table. The indies’ presence is indicative of ITV’s focus on drama and entertainment. ITV was not considered the best or the worst broadcaster by the indie community. It was leapfrogged by the Sky channels in terms of popularity, while Channel 5 was considered a worse broadcaster to deal with, amid concerns over payment and terms. Despite this, ITV’s respect for terms of trade remained a concern for indies, with some saying it negotiates outside of the parameters laid down in the 2003 Communications Act. Producers believe ITV chief executive Adam Crozier’s aim to exploit content across all platforms needs work, as none thought it was the best broadcaster to deal with on non-linear or multiplatform projects.

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Company

Key shows

1 2

Talkback Thames Bentley Productions

Take Me Out; Britain’s Got Talent; The X Factor; The Bill Midsomer Murders

Endemol

Divided; Whole 19 Yards; Soccer Aid

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Left Bank Pictures Kudos Film & TV Spun Gold Carnival Tiger Aspect Company Pictures Avalon

DCI Banks; Father & Son; Married Single Other Law & Order: UK Alan Titchmarsh Show; Michael Ball Show Downton Abbey; Whitechapel Benidorm; The Seasons; Ladies Of Letters Wild At Heart Harry Hill’s TV Burp Source: ITV

what the indies say pros “Commissioning requirements well defined” “A clarity of vision and appreciation of the commercial elements of programme producing” “Quick responses to questions and good transparency” “Collaborative in postproduction”

Cons “Wants additional transmissions or bundles repeat packages into the licence fee” “Negotiates outside terms of trade” “Sticks to terms of trade when it suits it” “Increasingly less open to indies” “Limited points of entry”

BroadCaster response

Peter Fincham Director of television

“We are pleased that producers rate our commissioning operation highly in terms of transparency and quick decision-making. We want the best ideas, at the best prices, from the best suppliers. To that end, we will continue to talk to all producers about increased ﬂexibility within our working relationships to ensure we produce high-quality, popular programming that delivers maximum efficiency within the schedule.”

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Channel 4 Clear strateGy ➤ C4 Top suppliers (By hours) Company

Hours

Key shows

1 2

Endemol Highflyer Productions

777 228

Big Brother; Million Pound Drop Channel Four Racing

Lime Pictures

145

Hollyoaks

4 4 6 7 8 9 9

Remedy Productions IWC Media RDF TV Sunset + Vine Studio Lambert Maverick Television Olga TV

74 74 67 66 59 49 41

Freshly Squeezed Iron Chef; Location Location Location Wogan’s Perfect Recall; Secret Millionaire NFL Three/Four In A Bed; Ultimate Gap Year Embarrassing Bodies; How To Look Good Naked The 5 O’Clock Show

➤C4 Top suppliers (By spenD)

One Born Every Minute: Dragonfly

hannel 4’s main suppliers in terms of hours and spend remained relatively similar to last year. Endemol was top of both lists, and even managed to increase the number of hours of programming it made for the broadcaster, from 713 to 777. Big Brother – in its final year – plus the arrival of Million Pound Drop (pictured below) put Endemol ahead of the rest in terms of the amount of content supplied. Highflyer and Lime remained in the same positions as last year, producing roughly the same amount of content. But, Olga, the indie behind The New Paul O’Grady Show, slipped to 10th place from fourth following the star’s move to ITV. In 2009, Olga made 132 hours of programmes, but that fell to 41 in 2010. In terms of spend, there were several new entrants on the list, including Dragonfly Film and Television, whose ob docs The Family and One Born Every Minute are now a fixture of the C4 schedule. In terms of the exact number of indies C4 worked with in 2010 and its overall spend in the indie sector, it’s a matter of sitting

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tight for now. The broadcaster is keeping the exact details under wraps until its annual report. Comedy specialist Open Mike also featured on the most spend list, making it into fifth place as the broadcaster increased output in comedy. Despite not being able to fully disclose financial information, C4 claims it spent less within the M25 in 2010 and increased its spending in all the regions. Overall, C4 remained in second place for best and worst broadcaster – marginally reducing the share of people who felt it was the worst broadcaster from 20% to 18.2%. The familiar brickbats varied from finding it hard to get a response from commissioners to a lack of understanding of being a small indie, and being “cliquey”. However, there was also praise, with feedback including a “clear strategy”, strength in multiplatform and a desire to collaborate and support. In many ways, C4 remains in a similar position to 2009. That is likely to change in 2011 with no more Big Brother and chief executive David Abraham having had time to bed down and make his mark.

Company

Key shows

1 2

Endemol Lime Pictures

Big Brother; Celebrity Big Brother; Deal Or No Deal Hollyoaks

Company Pictures

Shameless

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

IWC Media Open Mike Productions RDF TV Objective Productions Studio Lambert Maverick Television Dragonfly

Iron Chef; Location Location Location Alan Carr; Stand Up For The Week Wogan’s Perfect Recall; Secret Millionaire Peep Show; Pete vs Life; Derren Brown; Robert’s Web Three/Four In A bed; Ultimate Gap Year; Seven Days Embarrassing Bodies; How To Look Good Naked The Family; One Born Every Minute Source: C4

what the indies say pros “Decisive and accessible” “Most collaborative, truly supportive and excellent partnerships in compliance. Clear idea of strategy and fully understands multiplatform” “Efficient, fair, open” “They’re simpler, pay appropriate licence fees and are more supportive”

Cons “No understanding of what it is like to run a small independent” “Smug, elitist, cliquey” “Completely London-centric and in thrall to indie favourites” “They need to realise that the 4th best idea of a regular supplier is VERY unlikely to be better than the number one idea of a new supplier”

BroadCaster response

Stuart Cosgrove Director of creative diversity, C4

“Channel 4 is passionate about the creativity of the independent sector. David Abraham used his keynote at Salford to underline his ambition to make C4 the best broadcaster to work with, to be more timely, respectful and clearer in our dealings. As Broadcast reported, our new chief creative officer Jay Hunt has outlined a plan of action that will make content and commissioning more responsive to a wider range of companies.”

18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 21

Indies 2011 top suppliers Channel 5 thumBs down

hannel 5’s change of ownership, following RTL’s sale of the business to Northern & Shell, failed to win over the indie community as 17% named it the worst broadcaster to work with, twice as many as last year. In a year that saw an almost wholesale change of commissioners, C5 also failed to be named ‘the best broadcaster to work with’ by a single indie, despite attracting a 4% share last year. Respondents claimed it was working outside of the terms of trade, with low budgets, and had issues over payments.

The number of hours of content it produced from 56 indies was also significantly down. Top supplier Princess Productions’ The Wright Stuff accounted for 337 hours – marginally up on last year’s 322 hours – but Sunset + Vine’s 809 hours of sport in 2009, including cricket and UEFA football highlights, dropped to 150 hours last year. Along with North One, these are the only three indies still in the top 10 from last year, with Lucky Day, Talkback, Town House, Chorion, True North and Windfall dropping out to make way for new suppliers.

➤ Channel 5 Top suppliers (By hours)

what the indies say

BroadCaster response

“No sense of connection to indie community and no money to make original programming”

Jeff Ford Director of programmes, Channel 5 “After being badly hit by the recession and a period of uncertainty before last year’s takeover, we’re in better shape than ever to reclaim our place as a priority both for the indie sector and for the people at home.”

“Unbelievably crass behaviour over not cash-flowing productions” “You never know if you’ll get paid” “No money, confusing deals”

The Wright Stuff: Princess Productions

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Company

Hours

Key shows

Princess Productions Sunset + Vine Bigger Pics/Pint Size North One RDF Media Tiger Aspect Shine IWC Media Raw Cut Tigress

337 150 47 39 34 27 25 21 17 16

The Wright Stuff Europa Football; Cricket highlights Ice Road Truckers The Gadget Show Emergency Bikers Paul Merton in Europe; Justin Lee Collins Don’t Stop Believing Extreme Fishing With Robson Green Police Interceptors Nature Shocks; Austin Stevens’ Adventures Source: Channel 5

sky Group inCreasinG popularity

n a year in which Sky made bold statements about upping its spend in entertainment, the broadcaster backed its mission financially, spending around £75m via 58 indies. This represents an uplift of £25m from its investment last year and a doubling in size of its supplier base, set to expand further with more comedy and drama commissions in 2011. However, this year’s total folds in spend at Virgin, which spent

A League Of Their Own: CPL

➤ sky Group* Top suppliers (By hours) Company

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Hours

Crackit 142.5 Antix 60.0 Liberty Bell 45.0 Twofour 36.5 Shine/Princess 35.5 Steadfast 30.0 Thumbs Up 28.0 October Films 26.0 CPL 19.0 Original 16.0

what the indies say

BroadCaster response

PROS “Clear direction as to what it wants creatively and from a business point of view. Quick to respond and extremely helpful”

Sophie Turner Laing Managing director, entertainment and news, Sky “The commissioning and production teams work hard to be straightforward and decisive. We will fight hard to have the right budget spend on the right shows on the right channel – every penny needs to deliver value for our customers.”

Key shows

Angela And Friends Most Haunted Hay On Sky; Book Show Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old Got To Dance; Must be the Music Brit Cops Sell Me The Answer; Britain’s Next Top Model Sun, Sea And A&E A League Of Their Own Deadly North Sea

*Including former Virgin Channels

22 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

£17.7m in 2009 and became part of Sky last year. Encouragingly, Sky has also become much more popular, with 13% of respondents naming it their favourite broadcaster, up from just 3% last year. The extra investment has not resulted in more hours of content on-screen from the top 10 suppliers, with Crackit continuing to be the chief supplier, producing 142 hours of Angela And Friends.

CONS “Gives slow responses on creative commissioning sign-off. Slow business affairs matters. Cash flow and budget terms not attractive”

Source: Sky Group

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Indies 2011 top suppliers uKtV Broadening supply UKTV grew the number of indies it worked with from 16 to 21 last year as it began commissioning original content for history channel Yesterday for the first time. While total commissioning budget across the broadcaster’s portfolio of 10 channels was slightly down in 2010, UKTV increased its average spend per hour by 26% year on year. Optomen again secured the lion’s share of commissions, producing around 400 hours of content mainly for Good Food, up from the 275

what the indies say

hours it made for the broadcaster in 2009. It was also responsible for the four-part Ration Book Britain, which marked Yesterday’s first series commission. Cactus, previously UKTV’s secondlargest supplier, also fell out of the top 10, following the demise of Richard & Judy show for Watch. North One moved to second place with its coverage of the World Rally Championships for Dave, but is unlikely to feature so highly in the 2011 table, following ESPN’s swoop to snap up the rights to the motorsport.

➤ UKTV Top SUpplierS (by HoUrS)

Broadcaster response

“Unrealistic about what they should get for their money” “Long commissioning processes and sign-offs, and difficult to negotiate with their legal department”

Carpool: RDF

Company

Jane Rogerson Director of commissioning, UKTV “We’re concentrating our commissioning effort on delivering bigger shows with bigger impact. We’re also now commissioning on the entertainment channels in peak time with budgets to match. We’re always keen to broaden our supply base.”

1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10

Hours

Optomen 400.0 North One 38.0 Twofour 18.5 Talkback Thames 16.0 RDF 15.0 Tiger Aspect 15.0 Denham 12.5 October 8.5 UMTV 6.0 Lion TV 5.0

Key shows

Market Kitchen; Ration Book Britain World Rally Ty’s Homes For The Brave Love The Place You’re In; R Corbett’s Supper Club Carpool; Monster Munchies Argumental; Fry And Laurie Reunited Atul’s Spice Kitchen; Rhodes Across Italy My Flat Pack Home Red Bull X-Fighters Scream if You Know The Answer Source: UKTV

discoVery all change

arlow Smithson leapt to the top of Discovery’s supplier list, with 46 hours of content including Stephen Hawking’s Universe, while former chief indie Ricochet, which produced It’s Me Or The Dog, fell out of the top 10 completely. Isis Media, Tigress, Icon Films and Mandrill were edged out by Bullseye and Dangerous – which made Unstoppable With James Cracknell – plus Raw, Icon

Bear Grylls: Born Survivor: Diverse

➤ DiScoVery Top SUpplierS (by HoUrS) 1 2 2 4 5 6 7 7 9 10

Company

Hours

Key shows

Darlow Smithson Icon Films Raw TV Diverse Bullseye Pioneer True North Wag TV Attaboy TV Dangerous

46.0 17.0 17.0 16.0 12.5 12.0 11.0 11.0 10.0 9.0

I Shouldn't Be Alive; Medical Anomalies River Monsters; Tribal Fishing Gold Rush Alaska; Get Out Alive Bear Grylls: Born Survivor Olympic Park: Machines And Heroes Haiti's Killer Quake Britain’s Toughest Cops; The Cumbrian Murders How Do They Do It Wheelers Dealers George Cross Heroes; Race Across America

and True North. But Darlow clearly led the pack, with twice as many hours of orders as the second-placed Icon, as Discovery spread its business among 65 indies. Not all were happy with the broadcaster; one indie labelled it “very controlling, with low overheads and production fees”. And it also achieved a 5% share of respondents naming it the worst broadcaster to work with.

what the indies say

Broadcaster response

PRO “They pay well and reward success”

Lee Bartlett Executive vicepresident, global production management, business and legal affairs, Discovery “Discovery UK has significantly increased its investment in production and development over the past two years, which is clear evidence of its commitment to creative production communities.”

CON “Very controlling,

no rights, failure to accept EP costs in budgets, low overheads and production fees”

Source: Discovery

24 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

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Indie Survey Advert2.indd 1

24/2/11 5:43:12 PM

Indies 2011 GENRE LEAGUE TABLES

Fact ent and kids beat drop Drama, entertainment, factual and sports specialists all saw their output fall in 2010, but it was a better year for producers of children’s and factual entertainment. Will Strauss reports

Skins: Company Pictures

DRAMA

IN DECLINE Oh dear. Where to start? When the BBC’s controller of drama John Yorke revealed in January 2010 that the UK had lost 120 hours of drama programming in the past five years, he described it as a “seismic blow to the industry”. He certainly wasn’t exaggerating, if the results of this survey are anything to do by. Here goes. The total number of drama hours produced by UK indies polled here in 2010 was down to 369, a drop of

236 hours on 2009. Even allowing for closures, a bit of consolidation and some changes in the way the research data is provided, there is still only one response: ouch! With drama’s long lead times, this shows the blow that the commissioning budget cuts witnessed around 2008-09 have dealt to TV’s most expensive drama. Every single one of the companies that feature in the top 10 in 2009 and 2010 has made less drama. This includes Lime Pictures, which, despite a slight drop, retains top spot thanks to Hollyoaks.

➤ TOP 10 DRAMA PRODUCERS Company

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Lime Pictures Company Kudos Talkback Thames Left Bank Carnival Bentley Tiger Aspect Touchpaper Shine TV

Hours (‘10)

140.5 41.0 35.0 32.0 24.0 22.0 16.0 15.0 14.0 10.0

Hours (‘09)

146 45 38 79 16 18 15 -

Last year’s number two, Talkback, saw the biggest fall in hours, with its output being more than halved from 79 to 32 hours following the demise of The Bill. As a result, it slips to number four in the chart and is overtaken by Company and Kudos. There are three absentees from the top 10 year on year: Shed, which has its drama output included within its respective group’s results; Power, which appointed administrators; and Boomerang, which now channels drama through its subsidiary Apollo, which sits outside of the top 10 with 8.5 hours. In come Carnival, Shine and Broadcast’s indie of the year, Left Bank Pictures. The latter only managed 3.5 hours of output in 2009, but 12 months and 24 hours of drama later, the company has become the fifth-biggest supplier in the country, with the likes of Wallander, Strike Back and DCI Banks. Along with successful launches such as Carnivals’ Downton Abbey and Hartswood’s Sherlock, Left Bank’s hits are shining light among much drama gloom.

ENTERTAINMENT CHALLENGING TIMES

Like several sectors in this year’s survey, the number of combined entertainment hours broadcast in 2010 was down on 2009 – by more than 1,000 hours in fact, from 7,441 to 6,285. The big drops can be seen at Initial, X Factor (pictured below) producer Talkback and, most obviously, Remedy Productions, which has more than halved its entertainment output year on year. The combined top 10 has also fallen (6,911 in 2009 vs 5,891 in 2010) but, as with last year’s survey, the biggest suppliers make up a good portion of the market – nearly 93%. The table is dominated by two companies: the ‘non-traditional’ indie ETV, which is the biggest supplier by a country mile thanks to Gala TV’s eight hours of live programming each night; and Remarkable TV, maker of Deal Or No Deal and Big Brother. Both retain their positions at numbers one and two respectively, although Remarkable TV’s success does not receive

➤ TOP 10 ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCERS Key shows

Hollyoaks Shameless; Skins; Wild At Heart Spooks; Ashes To Ashes; Law & Order The Bill Wallander; Married Single Other Downton Abbey; Any Human Heart Midsomer Murders Secret Diary of A Call Girl Being Human Merlin

26 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

Company

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Hours (‘10)

ETV 2,920.0 Remarkable 1,546.0 Remedy 700.0 Princess 195.5 Talkback Thames 162.0 Boomerang 111.0 Objective 75.0 Rondo Media 71.0 Initial 61.0 3DD 50.0

Hours (‘09) Key shows

2,641 1,791 1,500 191 243 189 -

Gala TV Deal Or No Deal; Big Brother Freshly Squeezed; Gonzo Got To Dance; Must Be The Music; T4 Britian's Got Talent; The X Factor Gofod; Only Men Aloud The Cube; Derren Brown specials Dudley: Pryd O Ser Total Wipeout Album Chart Show

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FACTUAL ENTERTAINMENT GROWTH ZONE

Mary Queen Of Shops: Optomen

universal acclaim, with one sage survey respondent submitting the following analysis: “If football is a game played by 22 men kicking a ball, and then the Germans win, then independent production is a game played by 150 companies pitching their ideas, and then Endemol wins.” As with the top two, there is little change in the rest of the top five entertainment suppliers, with only Talkback and Princess swapping places. Further down, significant reductions in the entertainment hours they make see Tiger Aspect, Shine, Lucky Day and Twofour make way for Boomerang, Objective, Rondo Media and 3DD. However, a drop in overall hours aside, as befits the makers of shiny-floor shows, the entertainment producers are a bright and positive bunch. More than 70% ended the year more confident about the future of the indie sector than they were a year ago.

FACTUAL

TIGHT BUDGETS It’s all change in the factual top 10 this year. Optomen leads the way, as it did in 2009, but the chart has seven new entries, with Darlow Smithson and Boomerang the only other companies to stay the distance. Some big names have dropped out, including Tiger Aspect, Remarkable and True North, which all either concentrated on – or diversified into – other genres. The other big change is in the UK’s overall factual output. The combined number of hours of factual programming made by all the indies surveyed fell by 38% from 1,322 to 821. Even market leader Optomen produced nearly 100 fewer hours than it did the previous year. The top 10 combined was worth one hour shy of 500 hours in 2010. In 2009, the same number of

➤ TOP 10 FACTUAL PRODUCERS Company

Hours (‘10)

Optomen

Boomerang

55.0

3 4 5 6 6 8 9 10

Parthenon RDF TV Tern Colonial Darlow Flame KEO Shine TV

35.0 33.0 31.0 25.0 25.0 24.5 24.0 21.0

226.0

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Readers who turned to the drama and factual sections of this report first could be forgiven for thinking that the independent TV production sector in the UK was stuffed, but they’d be wrong. Factual entertainment is one of several growth areas. It’s a remarkable turnaround considering last year’s survey revealed that total hours were down 50% on the previous year. In 2010, the top 10 fact ent suppliers jointly produced 1,140 hours of TV. In 2009, the figure was 1,054. The total number of fact ent hours, according to those surveyed, was 1,940. Again, this was up from 2009, when it was 1,626. Princess Productions still leads the way, thanks in part to The Wright Stuff, and made pretty much the same amount of programming as it did the previous year. The rest of the table, however, includes companies made 735 hours. It’s a marked difference. Even the threshold for making the top 10 dropped from 27 hours in 2009 (Wall To Wall) to just 21 hours this year (Shine). As a result, five of this year’s biggest factual suppliers would not have made last year’s top 10. It’s clear that some of these hours have simply moved into other tables in the survey due to the consolidation of the market

and the reticence of some superindies to reveal exactly what their subsidiaries are up to. But there was also a factual famine of sorts in 2010. Some indies cite “fewer serious factual commissions from the public service broadcasters” as a logical reason for that drop, while others point to declining budgets as the reason for not pursuing opportunities in factual last year. ➤

➤ TOP 10 FACTUAL ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCERS Company

Hours (‘09) Key shows

322 Mary Queen Of Shops 118 Royal Welsh Agricultural Show 34 -

companies that have pumped out more fact ent content. Remarkable TV is the biggest riser, moving from number five and just 67 hours in 2009 to number two, thanks to 234 hours that included Gok’s Fashion Fix (pictured). With no Big Brother, it will be interesting to see how things look in a year’s time. Meanwhile, Leopard and Thumbs Up also increased their fact ent hours in 2010, while Tiger Aspect came from nowhere to reach number 10 in the table, with 42.5 hours that included My Pet Shame. Correcting what looks like an anomaly from last year, Cactus TV is a new entry for Saturday Kitchen. Meanwhile, Brighton-based Electric Sky, producer of Britain’s Fattest Man, doubled its overall output, adding 57 hours of fact ent to become the UK’s sixth-biggest supplier in the genre.

Mystery Files; Wild Russia; Indian Tiger The Secret Millionaire Beauty Of Maps/Books Britain’s Greatest Ships Steven Hawking’s Universe Heir Hunters; Saints And Scroungers Welcome To Lagos The Naked Office; Band For Britain

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Princess Remarkable Leopard Films Cactus TV Antix Electric Sky North One Thumbs Up Shine TV Tiger Aspect

Hours (‘10)

322.5 234.0 190.0 83.0 74.0 57.0 48.0 45.0 33.0 42.5

Hours (‘09) Key shows

322 67 180 101 57 36 -

The Wright Stuff Gok’s Fashion Fix Cash In The Attic Saturday Kitchen; TV Book Club Screaming Banshees Britain’s Fattest Man Fifth Gear; The Gadget Show Britain’s Next Top Model MasterChef My Pet Shame; Cook Yourself Thin

18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 27

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GENRE LEAGUE TABLES CHILDREN’S ON THE UP

FA Cup Final: Input Media

SPORT

BUDGET CONCERNS This year’s sporting league table is once again skewed by the absence of IMG, which declined to provide figures. But plenty did, and between them they made 1,484 hours of sport and sport-related programming. In 2009, that number was significantly more

‘The drop comes almost exclusively from Input Media, which made 1,076 fewer hours in 2010’ though, at 2,614. The drop comes almost exclusively from Input Media, which made 1,076 fewer hours in 2010. Anyone searching for the whereabouts of those hours should look no further than the demise of

Setanta Sports. In 2009, Input Media’s figures would have included six months of work from the now defunct broadcaster. However, despite that, Input Media is still the biggest producer of sport content in Broadcast’s survey, and its underlying business is up by about a fifth. Sunset+Vine remains steady at number two, but its hours are also down. Things look very positive, in terms of hours, for the Welsh indies in the top 10. Rondo Media has leapt from fifth to third, overtaking North One on the way, while Indus has moved up one place to fourth. Alongside its regular flagship Sgorio football shows for S4C, Rondo added 50 hours to a programming slate that now includes live Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup, Welsh Cup and Welsh Premier League matches. Indus, now owned by Boomerang and best known for the Bruce Parry-

➤ TOP 10 SPORT PRODUCERS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Company

Hours (‘10)

Input Media Sunset+Vine Rondo Media Indus North One AMG Boomerang Apollo Presentable World’s End

1,204.0 856.0 121.0 102.0 78.0 45.0 27.5 22.5 20.0 6.0

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

It may be the last table in this section, but children’s TV is definitely not the least. Along with factual entertainment, it’s an area of growth for UK indies. Combined kids’ TV hours are up year on year. The 19 companies that responded in 2010 made a combined 513 hours of programming for children. In 2009, the 25 surveyed companies made just 442. That’s an average of 27 hours vs 17 hours each. Much of the rise is thanks to Boomerang, which made 241 hours last year, a manifold increase on the 33 it made in 2009, helped by two big threeyear tenders from S4C for pre-school and older children’s content. The company has risen from fourth to become the UK’s biggest supplier of children’s shows. Last year’s runner up, Hit Entertainment, is conspicuous by its absence after being unable to break down its figures, but Rondo Media and Bear Behaving Badly (pictured) producer fronted BBC2 series Amazon, added 27 hours of sport. As there are only a handful of indies producing sport programming in the UK, it is possible to make bold assumptions about this sector based purely on the survey.

Hence Broadcast can confidently claim that 100% of sports producers were negatively impacted by the recession, and maintaining on-screen quality amid budget cuts is a major concern for nearly everyone.

➤ TOP 10 CHILDREN’S PRODUCERS

Hours (‘09) Key shows

2,280 902 71 75 81 47 24 10 -

Darrall Macqueen did their best to help the charge ,with 19 and 17 extra hours respectively. The 2009 top kids’ supplier The Foundation – responsible for Waybuloo – has fallen to third after making 23 fewer hours, allowing Darrall Macqueen to squeeze into second place. All in all, 2010 was considered to be a better year for kids TV producers – 76% agreed that it was an improvement on 2009, for example. But challenges still abound, such as a lack of tax breaks in England, falling budgets and an over-reliance on the BBC. “The parlous state of UK children’s TV remains a huge concern,” said one respondent. “Channel 5 is now re-commissioning, which is fantastic, but only the BBC seems to be investing in kids’ TV.” Gripes aside, with 70% generating income from video-ondemand and more than 90% selling their shows internationally, things are somewhat rosier in the children’s TV garden.

FA Cup/French Open tennis previews BBC Horseracing; Mobil 1 The Grid Sgorio Welsh Open Snooker; Golffio World Rally Championships Ma5da MX5 Cup That Paralympic Show; Freesports On 4 Rasus Full Tilt Poker; Late Night Poker Mark Watson Kicks Off

Company

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Boomerang Darrall Macqueen The Foundation Rondo Media Initial September Tiger Aspect So Shine TV Kudos

Hours (‘10)

241 57 45 43 37 15 14 13 11 7.5

Hours (‘09) Key shows

33 40 68 24 21 -

My Dad In Prison; Stwnsh; Cyw Bear Behaving Badly Waybuloo; Mister Maker Rownd A Rownd I Can Cook Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab Charlie And Lola; Tinga Tinga Tales Sorry, I’ve Got No Head Junior MasterChef, My Genius Idea M.I. High

18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 29

Indies 2011 NatioNs aNd regioNs

revenues up, hours steady New ways of working reaped rewards for the regional indies in 2010, with turnover and headcounts increasing, while programming hours stayed the same. Will Strauss reports

or out-of-London indies, 2010 was about being more efficient and diverse than in previous years. Neither adjective sounds sexy, but with the impact of the recession still fresh in the memory, improved ways of working and strategically wider development slates were vital, generating more money from roughly the same amount of output with slightly more staff. The hard figures tell the story, nuances in the data gathering process not withstanding. In 2009, the total combined turnover of the regional indies surveyed by Broadcast was £252m. In 2010, however, comparing the same number of companies, that figure went up by £10m. At the same time, staff numbers were up year on year, from about 1,800 in 2009 to around 1,940 last year, and the number of hours of programming on-air remained steady, at around the 2,100 mark. There was considerable revenue growth in the combined incomes of the 10 highest-earning out-of-London indies, which took home £190m, up 4.5% from £182m in 2009. Statistics like this could be dismissed for not comparing like-for-like, but these figures do stand up to comparison as nine of the top 10* are the same companies as last year. The exception is Ragdoll, which chose not to submit data this year and was replaced by Red Production Company in Manchester, which had an almost identical turnover figure. The majority of the growth in the top 10 came from three companies: Maidstone-based Waybuloo producer The

‘Our in-house staff are trained to multi-task so they can be in the ﬁeld, in the edit or around the production desk’ Laura Marshall, Icon Films

WHat’s BotHeriNg regioNal iNdies “BBC can still get bogged down in editorial issues and not communicate clearly enough in terms of responding to ideas”

“Channel 4 and ITV should do more to commission from the nations”

“Wheels still turn slow at the BBC”

“C4 is smug, elitist and cliquey”

“BBC is full of paperwork and box ticking”

30 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

History Channel and Discovery also Foundation (up 45%), Birmingham’s now commission its shows. “You can’t Maverick Television (up 21%) and Plymouth’s Twofour, which is up 36% year put all your eggs into one basket just in case your favourite commissioning on year despite a drop in overall proeditors at C5, ITV or BBC all go away,” gramming output of 90-odd hours. says Middleton. Twofour Broadcast chief executive The fastest-growing out-of-London Melanie Leach says those ups and indie in the top 10 is Icon Films in downs are almost entirely a result of Bristol, at number 11 in the table, up making higher-budget but lowerfrom 17th last year. Turnover at the volume primetime shows, such as factual firm is up 63% on the back of Channel 5’s returning format The major hits such as River Monsters (ITV, Hotel Inspector. Animal Planet US) and The Headhunt“We built a solid foundation in ers Of WWII (C4, Nat Geo, WNET) daytime and we wouldn’t want to plus inserts for The One Show (BBC). turn our backs on that,” she says. Managing director Laura Marshall “But as we’ve grown, we’ve wanted to puts the success down to a conmake sure we’ve had a broad scious diversification stratmix of work across the egy, the quality of people it schedule. The Holy Grail works with and the city of for us is to do primetime Bristol, which she and daytime.” Combined revenue of regards as a centre of Leach says Twofour the 10 largest will continue to focus out-of-London indies, excellence. “In the past, we were probably best up 4.5% on securing more of known for natural history,” those returnable formats says Marshall. “But we’ve going forward but also look taken our skills and our storyto make inroads into fixed-rig telling and diversified into adventure, shows, the first of which will be Classtravel, other sciences, history, and mates (working title) for Channel 4. also looked at daytime in addition “This opens up yet another new area to primetime.” for us,” she says. One impact of that strategy has Diversification, as pinpointed by been to more than double its hours of Leach, is a trend that is in fashion. programming, up from 11.5 in 2009 to However, unlike the 2009 survey, 25 in 2010. But headcount has stayed where it meant a push towards multithe same. “Our in-house staff are platform or international sales, many trained to multi-task so they can be in nations and regions indies in 2010 the field, in the edit or around the prosought new opportunities closer to duction desk,” she says. their traditional broadcast roots. On average, out-of-London producLeeds factual indie True North had ers made slightly less telly in 2010 its best year since its launch in 2002, than they did in 2009. Taking the total thanks in part to a wider-reaching hours and dividing them by the development slate. “The way we have number of firms surveyed reveals that made ourselves safe and secure is by each company made 54 hours, down broadening ourselves in two areas: from 55 in 2009 and 60 the year the genres we work in and the broadbefore that. Conversely, the top 10 casters we work with,” says chief execsaw an increase of 51 hours (4%) to utive Glyn Middleton. 1,247 hours combined. But with This means that history, property, revenue climbing, it’s unlikely that daytime and even kids’ shows such many indie bosses in either camp as CBBC’s Dick And Dom Go Wild will be complaining. have been added to True North’s usual *Boomerang’s group figures retained for diet of ob docs and current affairs comparison purposes. programmes, while Nat Geo, The

£190m

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top regioNal iNdies 1-40 Comapany

Locations

Turnover 2010 (£m)

Turnover 2009 (£m)

Change (%)

Pre-tax profit Key shows (£m)

Hours of progs 2010

Full-time staff

Lime Pictures (All3Media)

Liverpool

40.86

46.82

-12.72

–

Hollyoaks; Hollyoaks Later; Ingenious

159.50

326

Twofour

Plymouth

33.00

24.30

35.80

–

The Hotel Inspector; Night Of Heroes

101.00

264

Boomerang1

Cardiff

21.41

19.76

-0.18

0.75

Freesports On 4; Martha Jac A Sianco

22.00

Aardman

Bristol

20.00

0.00

1.00

Wallace & Gromit’s World Of Invention

8.00

Maverick Television (All3Media)

Birmingham

16.03

13.20

21.4

–

Embarrassing Bodies; Children's Hospital

140 600

107.00

50 13

The Foundation (Zodiak)

Maidstone, Kent

14.13

9.77

44.63

–

Waybuloo; Summer In Transylvania

45.00

IWC (Zodiak)

Glasgow

12.46

13.22

-5.75

–

Extreme Fishing; Location Location Location

88.00

Rondo Media

Cardiff

11.40

10.30

10.68

–

Rownd A Rownd; The Indian Doctor

264.00

6.06

1.90

40.00

Parthenon Entertainment

Chorleywood, Bristol

10.50

9.90

Red Productions Company

Manchester

10.00

Icon Films

Bristol

5.62

3.45

The Comedy Unit (Zodiak)

Glasgow

5.30

Tigress (Endemol UK)

Antix Productions

Tern TV

Mystery Files; Wild Russia; Indian Tiger

–

Worried About The Boy; Single Father

62.90

–

2.58

105.00

–

5.50

Headhunters Of World War II; Beast Hunter

25.00

–

Rab C Nesbitt; F Boyle’s Tramadol Nights

27.50

10 28

Bristol

5.16

7.20

-28.82

–

The One Show; Nature Shock

20.00

Stockport

5.08

5.62

–

0.88

Most Haunted

74.00

Glasgow, Belfast

4.40

5.00

–

0.02

Beauty Of Maps; Beauty Of Diagrams

54.00

True North Productions

Leeds

4.26

4.25

0.24

0.60

Animal 24:7; Stealing Shakespeare

75.00

Presentable (Zodiak)

Cardiff

3.90

2.91

33.93

–

Only Connect, Late Night Poker

53.50

Electric Sky

Brighton

3.90

3.74

4.28

–

Britain’s Fattest Man; TLC; First Love

106.00

Green Inc

Belfast, Dublin

3.86

2.85

35.37

–

Ask Rhod Gilbert; Four Live; The Daily Show

131.50

Telesgop Cyf

Swansea

3.19

0.15

Porthmon; Ffermio; Bro; Royal Welsh Show

82.00

Freeform

Manchester

2.80

0.00

–

A Place In The Sun; Dream Lives For Sale

30.00

Quicksilver Media

Oxford

2.60

3.00

-13.33

–

Unreported World; Secret Iraq

14.50

–

Brighton

2.50

1.20

108.00

–

Gaspard & Lisa; Castle Farm

2.00

Oxford

2.15

1.91

0.13

–

Horrid Henry

10.5

7.00

40.00

Impossible TV

Novel Entertainment

Matchlight (DCD)

Topical Television (Avalon)

Pett Productions

Back2Back

Iambic Productions

–

At Home With The Georgians

Glasgow

2.10

Southampton

2.08

1.75

18.86

0.21

Real Rescues; One Show features

Surrey

2.00

1.78

12.08

0.24

Shooting Stars

Brighton

1.50

1.20

25.00

0.30

The Hunks; Extraordinary Dogs

Bristol

1.46

1.10

32.27

0.54

Placido Domingo – My Favourite Roles

7.00

22.00

5.00

Testimony Films

Bristol

1.30

1.80

-27.78

0.02

A Century of Fatherhood; Hop Skip And Jump

12.00

Seventh Art Productions

Brighton

1.00

1.20

-16.67

0.03

Chopin In Warsaw; The Guitar Whisperer

50.00

Lambent

Brighton

0.84

1.10

-24.09

0.09

Colonial Pictures

Jersey

0.80

0.00

–

Teen Undertaker; One Under Britain’s Greatest Ships; Auction

3.00

25.00

Red Planet Pictures

Ampthill (Bedford)

0.70

1.22

-42.59

0.06

The Nativity; Crash

9.00

Talent Television

Eastleigh

0.64

1.84

-65.00

–

Damiloa: Death Of A Ten Year Old

2.00

Quickfire media

Bristol

0.50

–

Revealed: The Virgin Queen’s Fatal Affair

2.00

2 5

Televisionary

Devon

0.47

1.25

-62.80

0.03

Ultimate Ulster

5.00

Matchbox TV

Sevenoaks, Kent

0.35

–

0.10

127 Hours; Raavan World Premiere

6.00

Turn On Television

Manchester

0.30

–

0.03

When Love Turns Lethal; Conmen Case Files

5.00

AMG Television

Marple, Cheshire

0.10

–

0.01

Ma5da MX5 Racing; 750 Motorclub racing

45.00

1: group figure; 2: 2009 submission; 3: includes film staff

Hollyoaks: Lime Pictures www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Wallace And Gromit: Aardman

The Indian Doctor: Rondo Media 18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 31

Indies 2011 Peer Poll

New kids on the indie block Kudos and Wall To Wall held the top two spots in the table again this year, but strong performances from some of their peers saw several enter the top 10 for the first time ➤ CReaM OF The CROP Company

Votes

Kudos

Wall to Wall

Firecracker

Maverick

Company

Raw

Objective

Darlow Smithson

Betty

Shine

True Vision

Left Bank

best of the rest Baby Cow “Great

talent, great comedy”

Optomen “Event TV, brilliantly

produced”

Darrall Macqueen “Any kids’ indie that does 10 years+ deserves respect” Twofour “Brilliant at diversifying creatively and commercially, yet remaining fiercely independent” Love Productions “Formats that make you green with envy” Keo Films “Not resting on

its laurels”

Minnow “The ideas come

first”

Renegade “Fabulous

simplicity in formats”

Blast! Films “Exceptional documentaries and dramas” The Foundation “Gets huge ideas off the ground through multinational funding” Century Films “Keeps putting

quality first”

Pulse Films “Breakout year for an innovative company”

Kudos film & tV

Ashes To Ashes

Drama specialist Kudos has once again beaten everyone to first place, notching up 26 points – a clear lead of five votes ahead of its nearest rival. Virtually all of the nominees noted the Shine-owned indie’s consistency in producing high-quality drama. “Its films are compelling and made with integrity,” said one, while another simply dubbed its output as “classy”. “Producing great work consistently,” was a third’s verdict. Once again, range is also central to its success, with a roster of programmes as varied as BBC3 lesbian drama Lip Service and Christmas offering The Nativity, a co-pro with writer Tony Jordan’s Red Planet Pictures and Canada’s Temple Street Productions. As revealed in our latest freelancer survey, Kudos also rates highly with those who work for it, being ranked as one of the top five companies to work for. Consistency is no doubt central to the sheer number of long-standing series it now has. Although Ashes To Ashes took its final bow in 2010, BBC1’s glossy Spooks is still going strong, having just been

32 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

commissioned for its 10th series, while Hustle’s seventh series aired in recent weeks. And the indie shows little sign of slowing down: included among Danny Cohen’s first raft of drama commissions as BBC1 controller is eight-part contemporary spy series Morton, due out in 2012. Meanwhile, ITV has ordered a high-concept, six-part drama called Eternal Law, about angels who are sent to earth to help a community and gain a better understanding of the human condition. And Kudos is also set to make The Hour, a glossy 1950s drama à la Mad Men, starring Dominic West and Romola Garai, for BBC2. No doubt this will offset the recent decision to move Outcasts out of its peaktime slot on BBC1 after the sci-fi series was greeted with poor ratings and audience appreciation. News Corp’s recent takeover of Shine Group will undoubtedly have an impact on Kudos, but sources close to the company indicate it will free up more time and money to invest in development – clearly its eye is on keeping the crown for a third year running.

Wall to Wall

It’s been an eventful year for Wall To Wall, with its parent company Shed Media snapped up by US studio Time Warner in a deal worth £100m. The indie is ranked highly due to its range of strongly performing shows, including longrunning BBC1 fact-ent series Who Do You Think You Are? and drama New Tricks, as well as its drive to keep improving. It has sought to bolster its output this year with a second genealogy-related show, this time for ITV1, in the shape of Long Lost Family, and diversified into communities with BBC1 series Turn Back Time – The High Street. The new shows have met with approval, with execs labelling the indie a reliable producer of “highquality, intelligent formats”. But it has also won approval for the way assets are exploited. “Well-made but commercially viable programmes,” said one peer, with another remarking how “smart at business” Wall To Wall is. This is set to continue as it taps into Warner’s US formats and seeks to exploit its own formats internationally. Richard Thomson, appointed managing director following Clare Hungate’s promotion to chief operating officer for Shed, promises to grow the business “in both production and commercial terms”.

Turn Back Time – The High Street www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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FIRECRACKER FILMS

Firecracker has stormed its way into the top 10 best-rated indies among its peers, taking third place when last year it was nowhere to be seen. Producers’ praise for the company heavily focused on the factual content it has created over the past year. The success of Cutting Edge documentary My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding paved the way for 2011 hit series Big Fat Gypsy Weddings. The single doc and series, lifting the lid on the traveller community, exemplify what respondents described as “noisy programmes that are memorable and well made” and a “popular twist on docs that make their mark”. Firecracker’s peers were not only impressed by the quality of the programme, but by its ability to straddle the UK and US – indeed, one

producer rated the company “because the founder [Mark Soldinger] lives on the beach in LA”. The jet-set lifestyle, mixed with its access to unique situations and people, appears to have earned the indie the all-round thumbs up.

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

RAW TV

Another newcomer to the top 10, Raw Television’s entry in sixth place in the poll is a sign of the work the indie has done in the US. As a novice in the peer poll, Raw managed to score a respectable 11 points. Discovery Channel series Gold Rush has attracted hit ratings and was the main show highlighted by Raw’s peers. One producer praised its “cracking US-style shows from the UK”, while another said it deserved credit “for having a successful US business”. The comments also reflected a feeling that the indie has the ability to create quality. Founded in 2001, it was described by one producer as a “sharp newcomer” that stands proud, a medium-sized business punching above its weight on several levels.

MAVERICK TV

Fresh from winning a Broadcast Award for Best Popular Factual show with Embarrassing Bodies, Maverick has found itself catapulted into the peer poll. It is testament to the efforts that have gone on at the forwardthinking indie on both its programming and multiplatform support, for shows such as Channel 4’s The Model Agency and BBC2’s The Buying Game. There is a tremendous amount of goodwill towards Maverick, with peers recognising not just its “tenacious ambition across platforms and great content”, but the posi-

tive image it projects, too. One pointed to its “strong company culture”, while another hailed “a hard-working company with a great managing director.” Maverick has acquired the knack of delivering simple, wellexecuted factual and fact-ent shows in a way that engages viewers, and then driving that interest with strong digital support. With strong returning series such as Embarrassing Bodies, How To Look Good Naked and 10 Years Younger, Maverick has a stable slate from which to continue to build and impress.

COMPANY PICTURES

Company Pictures has continued to carefully nurture its four core brands – Shameless, Skins, Wild At Heart and Inspector George Gently – while winning new work. Fresh projects include E4’s Beaver Falls, which will follow

Shameless www.broadcastnow.co.uk

three British university graduates who have landed jobs at an American summer camp. Rivals voted for Company for its innovation, with one saying it is “always inventive” and capable of combining “commercial and creative success”. In addition, the indie founded by George Faber and Charles Pattinson was praised for the “outstanding quality” of its work. Consistency is also king at Company and it has secured another 22-part run of Shameless from Channel 4 and will make four more feature-length episodes of George Gently for BBC1. Elsewhere, the soon-to-air two-part adaptation of Women In Love for BBC4 shows it is not just the returnable brands that Company is focused on.

Gold Rush

OBJECTIVE PRODUCTIONS

“Distinctive stand-out shows,” is the type of comment Objective Productions attracted in feedback from its peers. Despite slipping a position in the polls, producers have a high regard for the All3Media-owned indie. “Always producing stand-out funny and entertaining shows” describes Objective’s unique approach. Shows from Channel 4 stalwart Peep Show to new BBC1 Saturday night show John Bishop’s Britain remain at the heart of its output, but it is now branching out – and this has been noted. Producers cited new shows, such as The Cube, as transferring the Objective character to a different audience and slot. One producer’s view was simply “good varied output”. Fresh Meat is one of the indie’s latest projects – and knowing Objective, there will be plenty more to come.

John Bishop’s Britain 18 March 2011 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 33

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Indies 2011 Peer Poll darloW smithsoN

Factual specialist Darlow Smithson is a new entry in the top 10, thanks to commercial and critical successes both in its traditional ground of documentaries – with the ambitious Stephen Hawking’s Universe and Concorde’s Last Flight – and the populist drama series U Be Dead. It also courted controversy with its provocative climate change single What The Green Movement Got Wrong. Peers applauded its “high-quality, daring programmes”, with one saying it was “pushing the boundaries journalistically and in filmic terms on all of its projects”. However, the majority of its revenues come from outside the UK, and it is continuing to win commissions overseas at a pace. Last autumn, it won a brace of commissions from

US cable network TLC. Meanwhile, the movie 127 Hours, which executive chairman John Smithson helped to get off the ground by securing the rights to the true-life story, won Bafta and Oscar nominations.

Stephen Hawking’s Universe

true VisioN

Consistent high-quality programming is the primary reason for True Vision being propelled into the top 10, despite not featuring in last year’s survey. Under the tagline ‘films that make a difference’ the indie produced a string of docs for Dispatches, Storyville and True Stories, while cofounder Brian Woods spent time championing independent film-makers in confronting the BBC’s compliance procedures head-on. Its powerful story Children Of Gaza, which followed four youngsters after the conﬂict with Israel in January 2009, drew more than 100 messages of praise from viewers alone. Meanwhile, peers praised True Vision not just for the fact that it “makes films that matter”, such as Storyville film Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children, but with several citing its “consistent brilliance”.

bettY tV

Betty is yet another absentee from last year’s poll, ranking above the likes of Shine, True Vision and Left Bank. The producer behind programmes such as Wedding House and Country House Rescue has attracted praise and respect from its rivals and managed to score a respectable eight points. The stand-out comments for the indie included it managing to stay “on the ball

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and energetic”, and doing a good job of representing medium-sized companies. This year it has created The Joy of Teen Sex and Beauty & The Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice, tackling difficult subjects and attracting a lot of attention as a result. Over the past year, its 22 hours of programming entered the spotlight and created a buzz around both the indie and the content it was producing, helped by the hiring of former Channel 4 commissioner Walter Iuzzolino as creative director.

shiNe tV

After a year in which Shine TV built on longstanding series such as Merlin and MasterChef, it has managed to remain in the top 10, but has fallen two places to joint tenth. Peers rated Shine highly, with one saying “I’d hate to be a

The Biggest Loser 34 | Broadcast Indie Survey | 18 March 2011

drama indie with them out there”. Others applauded its “ambitious and varied output” and its ﬂagship show’s global success, with another rival noting: “The speed at which it has turned MasterChef into a huge international brand is extraordinary.” The Biggest Loser is another successful format launched in 2010, and its second outing built to strong ratings last month. Shine has also ventured into other entertainment formats with new BBC1 Saturday night show The Magicians. It is not all gains, however. In October, Channel 5 withheld £1m in payment for talent show Don’t Stop Believing, though this was resolved in the end. As with Kudos, all eyes are on how the indie will develop now that News Corp has bought out Shine Group.

Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children

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left baNK PiCtures

Despite dropping six places in the poll, 2010 was a big year for drama specialist Left Bank Pictures. The indie launched and won recommissions for ITV1 with DCI Banks and Sky 1 with Strike Back, and secured the Broadcast Award for Best Independent Production Company. This spring, star-studded Mad Dogs helped spearhead the rebrand of BSkyB’s portfolio of channels and launched with nearly 1 million viewers on Sky 1. Key to this success was Left Bank’s “amazing ambition”, according to one peer, while another noted that the company produces a “rich seam of consistently highquality drama”. But it has not all gone Left Bank’s way, with Married Single Other getting the ITV axe and BBC1 pulling the plug on Zen, which so far hasn’t been picked up by a rival broadcaster.

Strike Back www.broadcastnow.co.uk

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