British TV revenues climb to £3.81 billion as US streamers offset domestic decline

British TV production pulled in £3.81 billion ($5.1 billion) last year, up £149 million or 4.1% on 2024, according to the latest census from Pact, the UK producers' trade group. The growth came almost entirely from outside the country's borders — international revenue, meaning money earned from selling shows and commissions abroad, rose by £214 million, a 15.8% jump to £1.57 billion. That accounted for 41.1% of total sector revenue. Variety

The international figure had been falling. It dropped £209 million in 2023, then another £57 million in 2024, largely because fewer finished programmes were selling overseas. The 2025 rebound is the first time international revenue has grown since the post-Covid bounce of 2022. Pact attributes the turnaround to streaming investment, particularly from US platforms pouring money into UK productions.

Inside the UK, the picture is darker. Domestic TV revenues fell below £2 billion for the first time in five years, a 4.7% drop year on year. Pact blames a small decline in spend from the public service broadcasters — the BBC and ITV — and a larger fall in multichannel spend, which covers channels on cable and satellite platforms like Sky.

Commissions tell a similar story. International commissions — orders placed by foreign broadcasters or streamers for UK-made shows — accounted for 35% of all primary commissions, meaning first-window orders for new programmes. Meanwhile, commissions from the UK's public service broadcaster networks fell 10%, dropping to 58% of the total. Public service broadcaster commissions still generate £1.42 billion, or 85.9% of UK TV revenue, when measured by where the money flows rather than how many commissions there are. Variety

Secondary rights revenue — money earned from reselling programmes after their first broadcast, through syndication, format deals or streaming licences — grew 12.7% to a record £575 million. Non-TV revenue across the UK production sector, covering feature films, talent management, event production and advertising, added another £34 million.

For context, the sector has been on a bumpy ride. Revenues sat at £3.3 billion in 2019, a then-record. By 2023, the figure reached £3.61 billion before a sluggish 2024 pushed it only to £3.66 billion. The 2025 total of £3.81 billion is the clearest upward move in three years.

What makes this census stand out is the split. Growth is real, but it leans heavily on foreign money. The domestic commissioning base — the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 — is shrinking as a share of the whole. Pact CEO Nigel Warner called the results a double signal: the UK market is strong at attracting inward investment, but vulnerable to declining spend at home.

For crews, writers' rooms and production companies based in Britain, that means more projects funded by Netflix, Amazon and Apple, and fewer greenlit by the broadcasters who have historically anchored the sector. The work continues. Who is paying for it is shifting.