Prime Video is shifting a larger share of its total TV spending to Britain, according to Amazon's UK boss Chris Baird.
Baird was speaking at a Royal Television Society (RTS) panel forecasting the year in UK television, alongside the likes of Amelia Brown, Fremantle's UK boss, who said the industry had “lost its courage a bit” when it comes to taking risks.
Baird said Amazon's operating budgets are “really healthy and strong” this year in Britain despite the US downturn, and “as we move forward, a greater share of investment globally is focused here in the UK.” Last year, Amazon began a major international restructuring that saw layoffs in the Africa, Middle East and North Africa regions with the focus shifting to Europe, although there were some layoffs in Europe amid the economic downturn.
The bird pointed to the Amazon's tent pole lord of the rings: rings of power, which was filmed in the UK and “does disproportionately well in the UK but the mission and ambition is to perform globally”, alongside local hits such as clarkson farm, Which was made 'specially for the British'.
Amazon won't be as tempted to go local as it is with the offerings Mr Bates v Post Office, However, with Bird admitting that the ITV smash was “too British” to be commissioned by an American broadcaster.
Go with your gut
Baird was speaking on a panel alongside UK industry heavy hitters such as Fremantle Brown, who made an impassioned plea to executives on both sides of the operating fence to take risks.
“Maybe our industry has lost its courage a little [in terms of] “They move toward what they believe in across the board,” she said.
Brown cited the BBC hack Traitors, Which concludes this week. “It had been brought up in a few places and then the BBC said: ‘We’ll do it’, so the gut instinct was there,” she explained. “Each broadcaster was presenting versions of what we now call ‘psychological reality.’ This is more [producers] Let's say that derivatives and versions will never be the thing that beats us, so we need to move forward with our courage and creativity.
Brown, who oversees Proverbs The Apprentice, Britain's Got Talent and Too hot to handle, This has become more difficult as younger viewers withdraw from traditional television, he said.
With this in mind, Kate Phillips, head of unscripted programming at the BBC, argued that the corporation's biggest competitor is no longer streamers, but now YouTube, TikTok and games. She added: “We want to develop a love for the BBC among young people who have become too distracted by these other platforms.” “It's about making them aware of the things we have sometimes – a good offer is a good offer but it's about getting [young people] Off their devices and off YouTube.
The BBC is struggling to finance big-budget dramas at the moment, but Phillips said feature unscripted films are not being beaten in the same way due to their lower cost, although she is still busy looking for partnerships.
“We don't rely on drama like her [on co-pro money] “We can still fully fund programmes, but in terms of increasing ambition, we are certainly open to partnerships,” she added, referring to the BBC's partnership with NBC, which generated Traitorsand the second window deals with the likes of the BBC Studios-owned channel group UKTV.
The trio were speaking in London at an RTS session.
