Britbox Can Be a Success, but the Battleground Is Now a Global One

It's taken a few weeks for the announcement to marinate, but I tell ya, I'm mighty excited. They may be 10 years late to the party, but ITV and the BBC are officially joining forces to create a rival...no, sorry, a 'complementary' product to the behemoth that is Netflix. It’s called Britbox (already successful in the US and Canada) and now the supergroup are hoping to monetize its archive content on our own shores. It's going to give the British people what they want... a paid subscription to the best of BBC and ITV without any annoying adverts.

So what content can we expect? Well, we can look to the existing US Britbox to give us a flavour of what's to come. I can hardly wait. There's a show with top-draw talent Helen Mirren as a kick-ass female detective in Prime Suspect (great name for a show), also Scotland’s finest Robbie Coltrane is playing an alcoholic, chain-smoking, kick-ass detective (I think it's called Cracker) and I'm reliably informed that there will be another high-end drama kick-ass detective called Inspector Morse who is like the older version of that Endeavor bloke (pretty high concept), must be a prequel story or something.

No, you aren't reading an article from 1993, this is an example of the archive content that Britbox will likely show and which ITV and BBC have the rights for and is at the forefront of their offering. They've seen 500,000 subscriptions from the US and Canada, so why the hell shouldn't they try this out on home soil? Who loves British content more than Brits?

Many could argue that these are fantastic shows and some may be timeless, but very simply, they've already been on TV, many, many years ago... for free. Let's be honest, it's hardly the crème de la crème we've come to expect from the Public Service Broadcasters’ linear output. The huge uptake of subscription VoD over the last five years has been fuelled by the best, newest productions. If we are paying, we want to see something we've never seen before. That's the benchmark.

I agree with Dame Carolyn McCall when she says there is an appetite in the UK for another TV service to be added to households, but competition is so tough right now and the US tech companies are bringing their A-game when it comes to content acquisition. Britbox may not want to say it’s in competition with Netflix, but by creating an SVoD service, you're competing with them whether you like it or not.

A UK service that charges people to watch its content when they’ve already seen it is not a good business model. They need to approach this head on and be far more ambitious than a UK based service with old content.

What was the title of this article again? Oh yeah. Regardless of all of this, Britbox could still be a success...if it wasn't just based in the UK, but globally. Now before I broach the content issue, if Britbox was made a global proposition, which allowed all countries of the world to subscribe, exactly as they've done in the US and Canadian market, they would see huge profits. In one year, Britbox in the US made approx. $40m from archive content. If it was opened up to all countries, this incremental cash could be funnelled back into the UK production market, where ITV and BBC could fund brand new content to show on their TV channels, own the programme rights, run it on iPlayer and ITVHub, then after 30 days, stick it on the Global-Britbox. Monetizing the content once more. This would just be replicating the success they've seen across the pond, but on a larger scale. Netflix owns its own content for exactly this reason... profit.

Now let's get into the content. For success in the UK, programmes on the platform need to be far more desirable for a start. If the aim is to be the home of British content, as we are told, why not acquire the rights to the best British content available? Approach the production companies that have sold their programme rights to Netflix and buy them back, including their own ITV Studios and BBC Studios content. Make deals with programme-makers to hold the rights for longer than 30 days to have it on Britbox. Sure, it's going to take investment, but you can't get anything for free. 

Now nobody knows exactly what programmes are going to be on the service. However, the recent announcement would have benefitted from talking up the newest content they already own, like The Bodyguard, Luther, Trauma. Then they could bolster that with the content they don't own, but which people already associate with ITV and BBC through commissions such as Marcella, Happy Valley, Peaky Blinders etc.

ITV and BBC have a big job ahead of them to purchase the rights from the content makers. Netflix pay handsomely to hold on to these rights for the time being and the economies of scale are an advantage of their global business. £65m investment into Britbox over two years is peanuts in the world of TV acquisition. If any of that budget is going to be put towards new programmes, then they will certainly be competing with Netflix, Amazon and Disney who have already gained a foothold in the UK production market.

The thing is, there is a huge appetite for British shows all over the globe and the US tech companies are the ones with the financial clout to invest. Netflix has contributed to the booming UK production market over the last few years and has effectively driven up the average cost of production in the UK. They hire the best British talent, both on and off-screen and the PSBs have found it difficult to compete, as the average cost of drama is now at £1.3m per hour, while 'high-end' drama can exceed that many times over.

  

There are other things for ITV and BBC to contend with too. To the UK production community, Netflix is the perfect partner. Apart from being well-funded they are renown for giving producers and directors the creative freedom they need without interference. If you're a storyteller, this is a dream come true.  

Broadcasters and other SVoD services all over the world are trying to keep up with Netflix and Amazon's success. The BBC, ITV, C4 and Sky need to be ambitious in their future offerings as Netflix is not resting on its laurels, giving broadcasters time to catch up. It is forging ahead with new tech, testing and learning with interactive formats and constantly learning the individual's preferences. Last year they spent $1b dollars just on its algorithm, to work out what you like to watch.

This is the chance for the UK TV establishment to fight back and personally, I would love to see them put themselves on the front foot and play the new blood at its own game. However, the game is now a global one and you cannot be a force in just one market in the current climate. Will they embrace the global ambition, or will they make a small step towards change, but ignore the fundamental battleground?