ITV Studios’ Ruth Berry Says TV Drama Had A “Bittersweet” Year But “Buoyancy” Is Returning To The Market – Series Mania

deadline.com:

ITV Studios boss Ruth Berry has called 2024 a “bittersweet” year for international TV drama, with an “incredibly creative successful” 12 months tempered by “perfect storm of macroeconomic challenges.” In a conversation during the Lille Dialogues session at Series Mania, she pointed to ITV’s production arm launching the likes of Fool Me Once, Until I Kill You, After the Flood, Mr Bates Vs the Post Office and Ludwig – the latter of which has sold to 85 territories – as examples of the creative boom and of the biz remaining in “rude health.” However, “What we saw last year was a perfect storm of macroeconomic challenges that were causing people to think about what they were programming, who their key audience was, who the key advertisers they needed to attract to their broadcast business. “When that happens you do have to look at your content strategy.

How much should you be making, how much should you be buying in and what it is you actually need. Streamers were trying to be more profitable, broadcasters were grappling with advertising concerns and there were lots of things happening at once which meant people had to take stock around what they were doing. “It felt bittersweet last year, with so much creative success, yet it felt that the headwinds were a bit stronger.” This week’s Series Mania has brought into sharp focus the lack of American co-production or co-commissioning money in the European market, with much of the chatter on how producers, networks and streamers can pool resources to make new shows.

Broadly, the consensus has been with Berry’s assessment, that European creativity is a strong place right now, with the financing side less stable.