SURVEY


PRODUCTION 100 BROADCASTER POLL


Best broadcaster 1


2 3 4 5 6 7


BBC ITV Netflix Channel 4 Sky Channel 5 Discovery


2020 26%


17.5% 15% 9.5% 8% 7%


5.5% 2019


35% 11% -% 6% 8% 17% -%


Which broadcasters do producers think are best and hardest to deal with? Here indies reveal their opinions of their commissioning clients


clients. On a strictly off-the-record basis, we ask indies to name the best and worst broadcasters they deal with – and to explain their thinking.


E Hardest broadcaster 2020 2019 1


2 3


4= 4= 4= 4= 4=


BBC Channel 4 Channel 5 Amazon Apple ITV Nat Geo Netflix


32% 17% 12% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3%


40% 36% 9% -% -% 5% -


-%


BBC As ever in our survey of the best and worst broadcasters to deal with for indies, the BBC takes the top spot in both polls reflecting its position as the biggest commissioner in the UK. First the positive comments.


Independent producers rate the BBC as being “lovely to deal with across the board” and “responsive” as well as for being “accommodating during difficult times,” calling the corporation “supportive. They understand the commercial landscape is tough. They aren’t driven by personal ego.” Others also point to the BBC being willing to help. “They have been open for business and responsive to conversations around overspends. They are generally supportive and decisive.” In a time of plunging budgets, the


Autumn 2020 P19 televisual.com


ach year the Production 100 asks producers what they think about their broadcaster


BBC is also rated as it “still has reasonable budgets, and will pay for development, and the terms of trade remain excellent – compared to elsewhere.” But it’s far from a wholly


positive report from indies for the BBC. Much of it comes down to its bureaucratic nature: “there are too many layers. Some Business Affairs people are actually specialists in programme prevention!” Its business affairs set up is criticised a lot as “too slow and not actually commercially aware of what it is like to run a business.” Others bemoan the


corporation’s “lack of urgency and expedience and at times very frustrating absence of responsiveness.” In fact it’s the pace the BBC works at that frustrates so many indies: “pain in the arse, can’t make decisions, layer upon layer of unnecessary management.” Others says the that “despite good intentions, they are still very slow to respond” and that it’s “so hard to get an answer from them” due to “poor communication” and being “pretty painful in development.”


ITV Voted second best broadcaster to deal with is ITV, a company that only gets the thumbs down from 3% of our indie respondents. ITV is lauded by many simply for the speed of its decision


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