V I D E O • A G E MA Y 2 0 1 2 (Continued from Cover) U.S. Drama Imports successful programs — 2011 saw very strong usage of [CBSSI’s] CSI andNCIS in primetime widely across Europe.” He added: “Although key shows continue to make up a significant proportion of the primetime output of major European channels, 81 percent of imported drama hours were transmitted outside primetime, with particular emphasis on the post-prime dayparts.” The report gives detailed breakouts — by country and channel — of the number of hours, distributor share and the broadcast values of all imported drama. According to the report, only 19 percent of the top eight international TV program distributors’ total IDS hours (98,754) appeared in primetime for the top eight distributors in 2011. The report lists the top eight distributors as CBSSI, WB, Disney, Fox, NBC-Uni, MGM, Sony and BBC. CBSSI was also listed as the leader in both the all-day and primetime categories, though its lead in the all-day category (see chart at bottom left) was much greater than in the primetime category (see chart at top right). By country of origin, the report states that the U.S. supplied 72 percent (20,085 hours) of primetime imported drama series in 2011. The U.K. was the next highest contributor — but far behind — with eight percent (2,279 hours). Aside from Ireland, U.K. drama series fare best in Scandinavian countries. By country, Ireland screened only 6.6 percent of its IDS hours in primetime in 2011, followed by Sweden (8.7 percent) and Portugal (8.0 percent). Conversely, the proportion of primetime IDS was 39.7 percent in the Netherlands. Added Simon Murray, the IDS report co-author and managing director of Digital TV Research, a company that provides global business intelligence for the TV industry: “Despite IDS hours being relatively low in the U.K., [Channel Four’s secondary network] E4 screened the highest number of IDS hours in Europe in 2011, while ITV3 and ITV4 saw very substantial growth in imported hours. Against this, each of the main three channels (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV1) transmitted less than an hour a day of imported drama series during 2011. Four of the 119 channels covered in this report screened 11 or more hours a day of imported drama series. However, all of these channels are secondary in viewing terms.” The IDS report also analyzed the amount of revenue the networks gained from airing imported drama series (see chart at bottom right). These were usually generated from ad revenues related to IDS, except in the case of the BBC, which doesn’t air advertising, so figures are calculated as a proportion of its license fee income. This “value” information is considered useful to distributors because it helps them value the networks’ benefits from airing their programs and thus adapt their license fees accordingly. The value generated for European broadcasters from imported drama series was $5.99 billion in 2011 for the 119 channels (nearly all of which are free-toair) across 21 territories covered in the report. This figure was similar to 2009 and 2010, but was significantly lower than the $6.614 billion recorded in 2008. Although the total has remained stable over the last three years, plenty of changes have taken place among the broadcasters, and for the distributors. Between calendar years 2010 and 2011, 20 channels increased their hours of imported drama series in excess of 25 percent while 16 reduced their hours by more than 25 percent. Values for Germany, Italy and France were all similar in 2011 at around $1 billion each. These three countries accounted for 54 percent of the total related ad revenues. The U.K. and Spain recorded much lower figures, revealing a lesser reliance on imported drama, especially during primetime on the main channels. The U.K. is a sizeable producer and exporter of drama series in its own right. France’s TF1 was by far the greatest beneficiary, generating $506 million from 2,081 hours of imported drama series screened (nearly six hours a day). At the other end of the spectrum, major broadcasters such as the U.K.’s BBC1 ($3 million), the Netherlands’ RTL4 ($18 million) and Spain’s Antena 3 ($16 million) air very few imported drama series. The total number of imported drama series hours in Europe was 160,424 (3.7 hours a day on average for the 119 channels covered in this report) in 2011; a comparable figure to 2010, but 5,000 fewer hours compared to 2009. Although the number of imported drama series hours has remained relatively stable, more of these imports are being used to fill non-primetime schedules, especially on secondary channels. Local versions of international formats have gained importance in recent years, with that genre taking a greater share of primetime output. The average hourly value of imported drama series reached $37,336 in 2011; similar to 2009 and 2010, but down from the high of $46,464 in 2007. This average is influenced also by changes in the advertising market. Concluded Michael Cluff, IDS report co-author and director at Madigan Cluff: “Most countries experienced a pick-up in advertising fortunes in 2011 with some markets such as Russia showing very strong growth. Against this, economic constraints in Southern and Eastern Europe have reduced revenues. Advertising and other sources of income for channels will continue to be pressured in 2012, both scheduling patterns and advertising income will see a rollercoaster of a ride with the London Olympics and the Euro 2012 soccer [football] championships.” Imported drama series primetime hours by distributor in 2011 3,891 757 3,327 191 4,861 2,408 748 2,901 6,606 1,872 Warner Sony Disney MGM CBS Fox BBC NBCUni Other Unknown Imported drama series for all-day by distributor in 2011 20,327 8,475 15,434 991 21,137 12,518 3,625 16,247 38,239 12,966 Warner Sony Disney MGM CBS Fox BBC NBCUni Other Unknown The value of imported drama series to European broadcasters 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 IDS revenues ($ mil.) 5,917 6,643 6,614 6,037 5,867 5,990 IDS hours 136,696 142,964 163,267 165,358 161,596 160,424 Average value per hour ($) 43,287 46,464 40,511 36,507 36,310 37,336 Simon Murray of Digital TV Research ETS’s Jonathan Bailey Madigan Cluff’s Michael Cluff 30
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI4OTA5