While there are most loved shows like Love Island, The Office, the world’s opinion on these makes sense too. What do they think of us? How do the UK content creators stand in the queue? At the online casino Betway we take a quick look at this. As the UK is one of the most successful TV industries, it offers its formats globally. As per some records, they even made an impressive GBP 1.4 billion in revenue last year alone.

How Did They Become So Famous Worldwide?

As the TV shows are becoming great icons they go through a long process actually in the domestic market. When the shows do well locally, the producers start to sell them with licensing rights to the international market. Then, the other countries can add these shows to their channels too and even adapt them for their local markets. Because of this exchange, the shows go out globally.

So, when shows like Planet Earth go out to the global public, it makes a lot of sense to feature them among the top favourites. As their shows and content made in the UK become so popular, it is a good time that online casino Betway thought to take a deeper look into their process and future.

Making a ton of money is the starting point of the whole affair. Because of this, producers keep churning up new content and offering them worldwide. The export of UK TV shows made a staggering GBP 1.48 billion in sales in 2020 worldwide. This is a big number because of the industry we are talking about. Some of the completed shows of this time include Dr. Who, Downton Abbey, Planet Earth, and so on. Because of this, the global audience loved and appreciated their efforts too.

Similarly, Love Island and Come Dine with Me secured the 2nd largest at GBP 160 million making a big splash, which resulted in 11% of their total sales. In the international market, such a big income is of great value because it means their shows are becoming icons and famous in different countries too. The various countries included in this tally are the USA, France, Australia, Canada, and Nordics. These are some of the places that contribute to the best. For example, the USA alone contributed over 466 million GBP while France gave 102 million GBP in sales.

Formats for an International Audience

When it comes to non-English speaking countries, they usually have translated content. But, since all original content is in English, the shows need to be modified. IT is clearly the case that Australia, Canada love them a lot because of native speakers. But, elsewhere there is an increase of 13 to 15% in UK TV exports last year alone. 

In all, scripted shows and reality shows are one of the most successful ones. Then there are money makers too like the BBC’s Top Gear. From The Office, Misfits, Doctor Foster, and so on, format plays a key role.

UK shows are one of the prime players in the international market because of their quality and storytelling. Some of them are icons. In the recent past, in 2020, most of the big billions came from just a handful of the shows. Many licenses from The Office, Love Island, for example, are very expensive and go for millions of dollars. This shows that UK TV exports are concentrated and not for all of their work. Because of this, translation services, English-to-other languages like French, are a key factor. Most counties do not have original subtitles, so they use homemade ones for compensation.

This is why the format, type of export, language, and multi-language support are key factors to make these shows really popular and add to the revenues from the international market. UK shows have great potential for being directed by some of the best in the industry too, which is another factor.