Come Dine with Me (4,126 hours) was the most screened TV format in Europe in 2011, according to a new report that covers 50 major formats across 16 countries. The TV Formats in Europe report calculates that the hourly total of Endemol’s Big Brother has fallen considerably since 2009, with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire also declining.
Jonathan Bailey, co-author and managing director at Essential Television Statistics, added: “Money Drop was screened for 615 hours and The Voice for 312 hours in 2011 – impressive considering that both shows only started in 2010. Both are expected to grow sharply in 2012.”
Relative newcomer Money Drop has already become the second title by value created across Europe. More established titles such as Big Brother, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Wheel of Fortune and Deal or No Deal saw considerable falls in value for calendar 2011 compared to 2009 and 2010.
Total format hours (for the 50 titles covered) in Europe was 16,856 in 2011, comparable with 2009 and 2010. The UK was the leading country, but its 2011 total was considerably lower than in 2010. Five began transmitting Big Brother in 2011, transmitting many fewer hours than Channel 4/E4, the previous broadcasters. Despite Channel 4’s format output halving in 2011 [to 705 hours], it was still one of Europe’s top five broadcasters. E4’s format output fell from 1,339 hours in 2010 to 297 in 2011.
Michael Cluff, co-author and director at Madigan Cluff, said: “The value created by the 50 major formats was $2,019 million in 2011 for 97 channels across 16 European territories. The 2011 figure was 8.4% up on the 2010 total, with the number of hours broadcast increasing by only 2.4%, demonstrating that the category still has expansion potential despite tough times for European broadcasters.”
The UK is the TV formats powerhouse in Europe. Not only does the UK screen the highest number of format hours, it is also home to several major formats’ producers and distributors. The value of formats for UK broadcasters was $475 million in 2011. The UK, France ($382 million), Germany ($381 million) and Italy ($260 million) accounted for three-quarters of Europe’s total value in 2011.
Simon Murray, co-author and Managing Director of Digital TV Research, said: “Five distributors accounted for three-quarters of the format hours in 2011. ITV Studios is the largest distributor by hours, mainly due to Come Dine with Me. However, Endemol ($439 million) was the leading distributor by value created in 2011, closely followed by FremantleMedia ($431 million). The top six distributors accounted for 82% of total value created.”
The values in this report are the financial benefit (sourced by activities such as advertising revenues or a proportion of annual household license fee) that broadcasters receive by screening these formats. This proprietary information has been compiled from programme schedule databases collated by Essential Television Statistics. Madigan Cluff supplied the program value calculations, which are based on net revenues and income derived by the broadcasters for each day part.
More details about the TV Formats in Europe report can be found on our website.