Two-thirds of Channel 4’s programme content was commissioned from ‘Nations and Regions’ Indies– a record-high – last year.
The free-to-air broadcaster said the amount of commissions from independent production companies outside of London was 66% – nearly double Channel 4’s 35% quote set by Ofcom.
This translated into just over half (55%) of Channel 4’s spend on new content.
Both figures represented records in terms of percentage commissions, Channel 4 said, while spend from the Nations and Regions beat the broadcaster’s previous peaks of 59% of hours commissioned (2018) and 47% of spend on originated programming (2020).
Lucy Smith, development executive at Leeds-based Wise Owl Media, claimed that out-of-London production is experiencing an “extraordinary renaissance”.
“With the arrival of Channel 4 in Leeds ambitious young talent see Yorkshire as a land of opportunity, while some of the UK’s most exciting creative minds who deserted for the Big Smoke are returning in droves,” Smith said.
“Out-of-London indies are no longer content to deliver low-tariff regional programmes and are laser-focused on developing big budget international formats at scale.”
Channel 4 relocated to Leeds last year, with about 200 of the company’s 900 staff working out of a former nightclub in Leeds city centre.
Up to 90% of the 300 Channel 4 staff who were told their jobs were moving to Leeds, Bristol or Glasgow chose to take redundancy, Channel 4 confirmed last September.
Channel 4’s chief content officer Ian Katz said: “These record figures show how Channel 4’s commitment to increasing spend in the Nations and Regions has helped break London’s longstanding dominance of the TV industry.
“Over the last two years we have built a formidable commissioning team in our new bases of Leeds, Glasgow and Bristol and their hard work, in collaboration with our brilliant indie partners, has ensured that the Channel’s output is now truly representative of the whole United Kingdom”
