BBC Worldwide Reports Revenue, Profit Gains

BBC Worldwide’s headline sales for 2016-17 gained 3 percent to £1.06 billion ($1.4 billion), with net profit up 17.6 percent to £157.3 million ($204.8 million).

The commercial arm of the British pubcaster returned £210.5 million ($274.1 million) to the BBC.

“By concentrating our efforts around core areas of growth and being bold in our transformation ambition, BBC Worldwide has delivered another strong year of results,” said Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide. “Ever-closer relationships with producers, driving excellent content, along with acute customer focus, creative deal-making and strategic partnerships, are together enabling us to navigate the rapid shifts in the markets where we operate. We begin the new year facing a complex set of conditions. The outlook remains unpredictable, but demand so far has largely held up well overall. We are actively evolving our company to stay ahead of market developments. We have an exciting slate, including Blue Planet II, Top of the Lake 2 and McMafia, backed by strong relationships with producers and customers alike. We believe these are robust reasons to give our shareholder, partners and stakeholders confidence in our future prospects.”

BBC Worldwide said its total content investment was up 7.7 percent to £173.9 million ($226.4 million), more than half of that in drama. Its best-selling property of the year was Planet Earth II, licensed to 233 territories, followed by the fourth season of Sherlock. Content sales revenues were £422.4 million ($550 million), a 9.9-percent gain. Production and formats brought in revenues of £164.3 million ($214 million).