Edinburgh TV Festival: TV tourists, the Trump effect and YouTube

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British TV is in the midst of generational transformation and for better or for worse, is ever more directly affected by the global TV industry.

Netflix were called ‘TV Tourists’ for hoovering up British TV talent after public service broadcasters had put in all the hard work and funding, during the 50th Edinburgh TV Festival.

This was related to a heated debate about how public service broadcasting should be protected and came alongside multiple warnings about the chilling effect of political interference on mainstream news.

This was headlined by the agenda-setting McTaggart Lecture in which James Harding the BBC’s former director of news now boss of Tortoise Media warned of “chilling” political interference in news coverage.

“Whatever your view of the hate speech vs freedom of speech issues, an overbearing government minister doesn't help anyone,” he said. “The hiring and firing of [the BBC director general] should not be the job of a politician.”

He also warned that the Corporation needed protecting from Reform UK which had vowed to scrap the license fee if it gets into power.

Dorothy Byrne, Former Head of News & Current Affairs, Channel 4 said [in the session: Trump vs. The Media] the UK should take heed of the “big mistake” which the US made in 1987 under the Reagan administration when it got rid of regulations for press fairness.

“We must not get rid of regulation. Regulation helps to bring trust because you have to have balance and in U.S media there has not been balance. Some of that has been too liberal and they haven't listened enough to the right. Not hearing sufficient right-wing voices is an error that some of our public broadcasters here are guilty of too.”

As befitting its brand and its PSB remit, Channel 4 execs decided to pull no punches.

Louisa Compton, Head of News & Current Affairs & Specialist Factual & Sport, Channel 4 defended the role of PSBs saying that Adolescence, a British story made by British crafts and crew but funded by Netflix wouldn't have happened without PSB backing.

“We supported [writers] Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham with multiple dramas on Channel 4 long before Adolescence. We've developed the talent that allows Netflix to come in as TV tourists.”

Compton was speaking at the ‘Opening Debate: The Future is Now – TV's Place in the New World Order’ which asked not just what's broken, but what can be fixed and by whom?

In other strident comments she highlighted a key difference between streamers and UK PSBs; “There’s not a single film on Gaza or British politics [on international streamers]. Everything is retrospective. They don’t follow stories as they unfold.”

And she batted away repeat talk of a merger between Channel 4 and the BBC with this sharp dig: “A perfect example of why we shouldn’t merge is the Gaza doc Doctors Under Attack. The BBC decided not to air that for their own reasons but we were able to show it.”

She called out the “Trump effect” leading to an “assault on journalism” and “caution” from US broadcasters in what they commission. That is drying up funds for producers working in current affairs and who have historically looked to the US for finance.

“We still invest in public service journalism,” she insisted. 

The economic uncertainty in the market which has been going on since COVID has drained the industry of much of its freelance talent.

John McVay OBE Chief Executive, Pact said, “The chilling of investment coming from North America and the economic downtown in the domestic industry [means] a lot of shows aren’t getting commissioned. That means a lot of freelancers have had to leave the industry.

“As an industry we should have been collectively thinking harder, and training and reskilling those people to keep them in the industry because they have cultural skills, creative skills, experience management skills.

“It’s not because indies don't want to hire people. It’s because they're not getting commissioned, so they can't provide the employment. It's a tragedy that the industry hasn't done more to retain that talent and re-skill it for the future.”

Pressure is growing on broadcasters to prove their digital strategies and the brave new world of unregulated and unrestricted creator content demands closer examination.

“The only way we make money is to look globally,” said Benjamin Zand, Founder, CEO & Documentary Maker, Zandland. “We definitely can’t sustain a business solely in the UK.We need multiple revenue streams by working across linear, digital and branded content.”

He thought that TV was entering the age of the “super entrepreneurial production company” run by creators or execs who have to think outside the box. “There is a huge amount of risk, but there is now a significant amount of reward, if you can build an audience and you can monetize that audience Previously, as a producer you relied on the broadcaster to build your audience. Now, you can be an Empire.”

TV shows are no longer confined to the TV screen. Whether on social or gaming platforms, they're engaging with a Gen Z audience in the places where they already spend hours a day. After years of missteps, TV producers and broadcasters are finally getting the hang of it, according to execs at the session ‘From IP to XP: Building Immersive Worlds for Gen Z’.

“We tried unsuccessfully to port TV IP to the metaverse many times but we were not meeting audiences on their own terms,” said Mariel Capisciolto, Head of Digital Development, BBC. “Sometimes the IP might be right but the platform was wrong and vice versa. We’ve been experimenting quite a bit in this space and now we’re getting more right than wrong.”

Making game versions of TV shows is not just about reaching younger audiences that are not engaging with linear TV or broadcaster digital channels. It’s also about playing around with a sandbox that might just unearth the next viral hit.

“TV’s biggest problem is that you make a season and have to wait for another year for another series, if you are lucky, with nothing happening in between. Games, by contrast, are omnipresent. Users craft a new story every day,” said Tom O'Brien, Managing Director of Naked, producer of long running shows like The Apprentice (BBC), Grand Designs (Channel 4) and The Rap Game (BBC), a version of which is on Fortnite.

“The best thing about The Rap Game (Fortnite experience) is that when the show finished on TV there was still a presence in the long gap between seasons. That’s an incredible marketing tool to juice engagement when you have it and the direction that TV needs to go.”

He added, “TV people are used to controlling everything from the first word to the final credit. The whole point of games is that you have to hand it over to people. They craft a new story with it every day. You have to get comfortable with not protecting everything. You have to hand IP over in order to keep it living.”

Speaking in the opening debate Bryony Hopkins, Head of Production and Operations at digital first producer Strong Watch Studios, acknowledged a change in the way broadcasters approach online – but wanted them to go further.

“There is definite ambition from broadcasters to enter this space but from an infrastructure perspective they are still set up to make linear TV,” she said. “In digital you need to think about things differently.  The TV model has a clear hierarchy and direction of travel for people during their career. With digital that is blown out the water.”

She urged PSBs to put more of their content on YouTube from all PSBs. “There is value in having content in lots of different places but the industry also needs to look at changing the funding model [for distribution on third party platforms) which is beneficial to indies and broadcasters.”

Channel 4 claims to be the market leader in terms of a broadcaster distributing its content on YouTube where views to its content have yielded a 169% increase, Compton said. The broadcaster also has a new deal where it can sell adverts directly with YouTube.

“We are starting to see revenue coming this way. There are challenges working with networks. We have no control over third party platforms. The algorithms are shady and non-transparent. I also believe Public Service content should be kite marked [given prominence] on those applications.”

A year has passed since BBC News Analysis Editor Ros Atkins delivered a signature explainer to forensically dissect the TV and content landscape. He returned to interrogate the most urgent, uncomfortable questions facing the industry.

“British TV is in the midst of generational transformation,” he said. “Legacy broadcasters must deal with a change of leadership as declining reach and market forces tear old models apart. Mergers are being touted, streamers' belts are tightening and production companies are going under. For better or for worse, UK TV is ever more directly affected by the global TV industry.”

Earlier this year, Ofcom reported that YouTube had overtaken ITV to become the second most watched streaming service in the UK behind iPlayer. Among 16 to 34 years olds YouTube was the most-watched service overall. Ofcom warned: “If content from PSBs is going to survive, it has to be discoverable. That means forging commercial and strategic partnerships with platforms – and not treating them like the enemy.”

He posed a question, “Unless PSBs starts putting significant content [on YouTube] where young audiences are, its model will be broken.”

Atkins also highlighted the centrality of technology, especially to distribution. This year, the BBC is spending £88 million ($118m) on online & TV development which is a significant increase but that pales besides Netflix $2.9 billion spend in R&D including new search and recommendations technology.

“Broadcasters are still committed to their own VOD platforms. But there's fierce competition. And they are having to decide how much of their content to put on platforms such TikTok and YouTube. The best technology is ever more vital to getting your content to audiences. That’s still exerting significant strategic pressure.”

With £4.7 billion invested by US Studios in UK HETV at last accounting, McVay was at pains not to kill the golden goose in “This helps sustain jobs and facilities and tell British stories but the biggest challenge is that the licence fee is not keeping pace with streamers.

“Inflation is up, everything costs more – here, in the EU and North America. Sources of finance to close deficit are drying up making it harder to get things made.  

It’s a fundamental problem. We are not getting enough money in licence fee to get to shows made quickly enough.

He warned, “Indie producers used to have an idea and sell it to a broadcaster. Now, we've got to come up with the money ourselves. There's a problem because not everyone's got the bank of ‘mom and dad’. As a result, there's a problem with diversity and inclusion coming down the track where a lot of people who probably would get into our industry previously may now be excluded. That's a big issue for our whole industry to start talking about.”