Report Sees Gains in Expenditure on Web-Only Content

LONDON: In Europe and the U.S., almost £90 million will be spent on the production of made-for-broadband content by 2013, according to Content Economics Research, up from more than £30 million last year.

In the U.K. alone, the report asserts, approximately £4 million was spent producing original web series. The BBC is leading this new industry, the report states, with the British pubcaster said to have spent more money producing made-for-broadband content than any other TV broadcaster in America or Europe. The U.K. is ranked as the second-largest market for web series investment, following the U.S. BBC and Channel 4 are expected to be the largest commissioners within the British market for web content in the next 12 to 24 months.

James Healey, the director of research at Content Economics Research, noted, "The collapse in the advertising and sponsorship market during the recession has seen the number of commercial projects dwindle and budgets shrink. It is the deep-pocketed BBC, and also Channel 4, who will drive this market in the U.K. in the near-term."