Pact, which promotes the commercial interests of independent creative content producers, was joined by 16 companies on the trip, which included business in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. The visit included the signing of a ground-breaking memorandum between Pact and the Chinese state broadcaster, CCTV.
China is one of the fastest growing markets for UK ‘indies’, said Pact, adding that exports growth was 90 percent over the past year. The visit, supported by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), coincided with the annual Sichuan TV Festival.
John McVay, Chief Executive of Pact, said: “We are working to lay the foundations for a longstanding relationship between UK production companies and Chinese buyers and broadcasters. International exports of British television have seen extraordinary growth in the past few years – and independent television is now a multi-billion pound sector and among the fastest growing of the UK’s creative industries.
“Annual exports of all UK television are now worth over £1.2 billion to the UK economy and there can be no doubt about the potential of China to significantly grow that figure.
“UK content and creativity is highly prized all over the world and our independent production companies are a great British success story.”
Pact added that figures released in 2013 show international sales of UK television programmes have almost quadrupled since 2004. Among the stronger areas of growth in the last year are the Asian markets. Sales to Southeast Asia are up 26 percent and the market in India has grown by 42 percent.
At the Sichuan TV Festival, Pact and the CCTV Documentary Channel signed an official memorandum of understanding, which sets out the first details of a collaboration project between the UK producers’ trade body and a channel of the Chinese mainland state television broadcaster.
CCTV has a network of 45 channels accessible to more than one billion viewers.
The China trade mission included Pact market development business with a variety of media interests and overseas representatives from UKTI. Pact and production companies will meet with China Central Television, Tencent Video, Shixi Media, and BTV in Beijing, Shanghai Media Group and IPCN in Shanghai, before three days of sales meetings for UK indies at the Sichuan TV Festival in Chengdu.
Dawn McCarthy-Simpson, Director of Market Development at Pact, said: “UK television productions are among the most sought-after in the world. Chinese buyers, like those from all over the globe, seek out TV from Britain because they are looking for quality and originality.
“The signing of the Memorandum is a breakthrough for UK indies – we have seen major growth in many different markets, but China is where many producers would like to get a foothold. With the help from UKTI, Pact has supported more than 200 production companies at major international markets in the past 12 months.”
The UK companies on the China trade mission were:
Argonon
Arrow TV
Can’t Stop Media
Drive
Electric Sky
Espresso TV
Hartswood Films
Icon Films
Matchlight
Optomen
Scorpion TV
Sideways Film
Skyworks
Trinity Force
Zig Zag Productions
Zodiak Rights
