IHS Report: 80-Day-Plus Time Lag for U.S. Shows to Launch Internationally

LONDON: While some platforms are premiering American shows day-and-date with their Stateside premieres—including Netflix and Foxtel, among others—most international audiences are having to wait an average of 84 days for series to make it to television in their home markets, according to a new IHS Technology study.

According to Tim Westcott's The Netflix effect: US distributors fast track new series to international market, social media buzz makes new TV series go global very quickly, but audiences are having to wait for titles to show up on traditional channels. Platforms like Foxtel in Australia and Orange Cinema Series in France are rolling out shows the day after the U.S. broadcast, but this is still the exception, not the rule, Westcott notes. This is largely because foreign broadcasters are keen to see how a show performs in America before placing it in the grid.

The IHS study also found that of the 54 new scripted TV series from U.S. broadcast and cable networks in 2013 and the first month of this year, 14 have yet to be sold into Australia, France, Germany and the U.K. The U.K. was the biggest buyer of these shows, taking 35. But Britons are having to wait an average of 95 days before seeing the U.S. imports. Australia acquired 24 shows, which were launched an average of 32 days after the U.S. premiere. The lag is longer in markets where shows have to be dubbed: France, which only acquired nine of those new broadcast and network shows, had a 129-day lag, and Germany, which bought 15, had a 116-day gap.