Netflix doubles down on UK productions despite slowdown
Netflix has spent $6bn (£4.8bn) making TV shows and films in the UK since 2020, $2bn more than originally planned, as the streaming giant doubled down on must-watch content amid a global slowdown in new subscribers.
In a rare public announcement on content-spend levels, Netflix has said that it had spent on average almost $1.5bn annually from 2020 through to 2023.
That is a $500m-a-year increase since the streaming company, which makes more than 60 TV series and films annually in the UK, such as The Crown and Heartstopper, last revealed its UK annual spend figure in 2020, when it estimated that it would invest $1bn.
The increasing investment in the UK, the company’s second biggest market for TV and film production after the US, comes as Netflix fights a subscriber slowdown with initiatives including a lower-cost ad-supported tier and a crackdown on free use through password sharing.
Netflix is the biggest spender of the streaming giants – Amazon has said it spent more than £1bn in the UK on TV, movie and live sport between 2018 and 2022 – has long-term production deals at Shepperton and Longcross studios, and shoots in locations across Britain.
About a third of all the productions that Netflix makes in Europe, for its 233 million-strong global subscriber base, are made in the UK.
The boost in Netflix’s content budget puts it on par with ITV, which spent £1.2bn last year but intends to spend more to support new streaming service ITVX, and is approaching double Channel 4’s £671m budget for 2022.
“Our productions are some of buzziest, most watched and zeitgeist-defining in the world,” said Anne Mensah, Netflix’s vice-president of content in the UK. “Between 2020 and 2023, we will in fact have invested almost $6bn creating Netflix
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