Broadcasters risk being forced to abandon “niche” British TV shows such as Mr Bates vs The Post Office as budgets are squeezed in a production downturn, ITV has warned.
In evidence to MPs, the broadcaster said that rising costs and shrinking commissioning budgets were making it harder to produce “distinctively British content”.
It cited the example of Mr Bates vs The Post Office, a dramatisation of the Horizon IT scandal that became the channel’s biggest new drama in more than a decade when it was released in January.
Despite this success, ITV made a loss of around £1m on the show as it struggled to drum up interest from international buyers increasingly seeking global programming.
The channel sold Mr Bates to just 12 foreign territories. That compares to other series that the broadcaster regularly sells to as many as 150 countries.
In its submission to the Culture, Media and Sport committee, ITV said: “Rising costs and stagnating commissioning budgets mean the margins for very distinctively British content are narrowing. Moreover, international customers increasingly want content that travels well globally and are, therefore, less interested in British and in particular niche British content.
“We commissioned Mr Bates in the knowledge that it would be challenging to make a profit but we felt the responsibility to tell the postmasters story was important.
“Unfortunately, rising costs, lower commissioning budgets and international markets/clients experiencing the same economic/sector specific challenges as UK broadcasters mean it is becoming even harder for ITV to take risks like Mr Bates.”
The UK’s long-thriving production industry is coming under increasing financial pressure as surging inflation pushes up the cost of making TV shows, and an advertising slump forces broadcasters to cut their content spend.
This has been exacerbated by protracted Hollywood strikes, which brought production to a standstill last year. ITV has warned that the walkouts will delay around £80m in revenues from 2024 to 2025.