AI, YouTube, TikTok: How TV Producers Plan to Cash In in '25
I talk to a dozen execs about their New Year mandates
Manori Ravindran covers int’l TV from London. She recently interviewed YouTube star Amelia Dimoldenberg on how she’s turning the tables on TV, wrote about the model TV producers are loving to get shows made and the “buy, sell or die” M&A climate for producers.
Happy New Year, Series Business readers! I hope everyone had a restful, plentiful holiday season. I’m not sure I can bear the sight of another pig-in-a-blanket for 12 months, so I must have done something right.
Hors d’oeuvres aside, the British holiday season is traditionally characterized by some festive TV programming. Holiday viewing, for me, is the best part of Christmas in the U.K. — and normally, we excel at it.
But this year, apart from James Corden and Ruth Jones’ moving Gavin & Stacey finale (which drew an average of 12.3 million viewers, the largest Christmas Day audience in a decade) and the new Wallace & Gromit film (both of which aired on the BBC), there was a dearth of U.K. holiday highlights. In lieu of timely scripted originals, most of the schedule was awash with mediocre holiday specials of game shows like The Chase and music competition The Piano, or the likes of What We Were Watching: Christmas 1984 (yes, really).
Alas, the first year of the industry downturn — with its tight budgets and delayed commissioning — had a palpable effect on the U.K. holiday TV tradition. Although this year’s TV may have been spoiled, there’s reason for optimism if U.K. trade outlet Broadcast’s recent Commissioner Survey is to be believed: Its analysis of 83 British TV decision-makers revealed that 42 percent will spend “slightly more” on content in 2025, 4 percent “significantly more,” and 37 percent will keep their spending levels flat.
“We need to think smarter, innovate and build real partnerships that push the boundaries of what TV can be,” says Fatima Salaria, a producer and the chair of the Edinburgh TV Festival.
As 2024 wound down, I asked more than a dozen executives and leaders about the change they’d like to see in the TV business in 2025. I was curious about what they’re hopeful for, but also how the industry can leave behind old ways of doing things so that it can innovate and expand the limits of TV.
In this issue, you’ll learn:
Why AI, YouTube and TikTok are what producers are most excited about in 2025
The three things producers need to remember when chasing brands to fund their projects
How producers would overhaul U.K. commissioning (ordering) practices
Why they’re demanding that buyers abandon their opaque content strategies in favor of transparency
How vast job cuts have delayed dealmaking — and forced companies to lose money
The value traditional outfits would get from collaborating with digital-first producers — and vice versa
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