Indie production revenue tops £2bn

Revenue for independent production companies in the UK last year topped £2bn for the first time, according to sector association PACT.

The £2.14bn total was an increase of nearly 10% on £1.95bn in 2006.

PACT's Independent Production Census for the year, released today, said there was "sustained and significant growth" in proceeds from multichannel commissions. They totalled £240m and 89% of that was from BSkyB, Discovery, Virgin Media and UKTV.

There was also increased spending from the BBC and ITV but Channel 4 and Five spent less than in the previous two years. Revenue from new media production also dropped from £42m to £39m after a rapid growth in 2006.

Consolidation of producers continued, PACT reported, meaning 43% of revenue came from the so-called super indies - All3Media, IMG, Fremantle, Hit Entertainment and Endemol.

Non-UK sales amounted to £310m. Of that 84% was to the US and the best-selling global genre was factual.

"(Last year) will be remembered as the year that the pace of consolidation in the UK independent production sector noticeably quickened," said David Elms, KPMG media partner.

"The numbers of completed transactions in the sector speak for themselves as numerous
independent producers were bought out by larger, better-funded corporate acquirers in the
drive for scale to front up to the opportunities and challenges facing the sector."