A rapidly changing content sales ecosystem has been revealed in a report commissioned by content distribution and financing specialists Drive, revealing an explosion in VOD service launches and international sales for UK producers, dwarfing domestic growth.
Compiled by WorkShare Consulting, Drive New Buyers Report, revealed the number of VOD services launched in the US, UK and EU territories increased by a third (32%) from 2270 in 2017 to 3015 in 2020, with 745 new service launches in just four years.
It also highlighted the rapid expansion of international sales recorded by UK content producers versus domestic sales in the years running up to the Covid-19 pandemic.UK production companies saw their international revenue growth significantly outstrip that from domestic sources. In 2013, international sales made up around 17% (£0.5 billion) of total revenues, while at the end of 2019, it had grown to 39% or £1.6 billion. This represented an increase of 229% over six years. Across the same period, domestic revenue increased from £2.2 billion to £2.5 billion, a growth of just 16%.
At the outset of the pandemic, factual and factual entertainment programming briefly represented as much as 40% of all commissioning by new streamers as scripted production ground to a halt in the second quarter of the year, offering said the research a “massive boost” to the unscripted sector.
“We commissioned this report based on our own recent experience of the dramatic rise in VOD revenue to the business. Unsurprisingly, we’ve seen an ever-increasing rise in VOD growth over the past 3 years, and to date this shows no signs of slowing with our 2021 VOD revenues already 50% over our 2020 figures, and so on track to double by year end” said Drive joint MD’s Lilla Hurst and Ben Barrett commenting on The Drive New Buyers Report.
“Domestic growth has largely stagnated for the UK production sector and it’s clear that many new buyers - of which many more may have launched during the pandemic itself, provide UK producers, particularly in the factual space, more opportunities than ever to create vital international revenue streams.”