More than half of indies enjoyed a better 2025 than 2024, according to the latest Broadcast Indie Survey.
The annual report, which ranks the turnover of 80 production companies, shows that 38% reported a better year - double the 19% of the previous year - while 14% said it been “much better”, on par with 13% in the previous survey.
The figure is highest among nations and regions producers: 58% of them said they fared better or much better financially than the year before – compared with 47% of London-headquartered companies.
Some 80% were profitable last year, with a quarter rating their profit as ‘small’ profit; a third as ‘reasonable’; and a fifth as ‘good’, while 13% made a loss.
The combined turnover of the 72 companies offering a year-on-year comparison rose by 10% to £1.94bn.
Half said they used more freelancers (33% ‘slightly’ more and 17% ‘many’ more), while 36% made redundancies, on par with 2024.
Studio Lambert remains the most admired production company, followed by 72 Films and three companies that did not make the top ten of last year’s ‘Peer Poll’: Adolescence indie Warp TV, 24 Hours in Police Custody producer The Garden and Baby Reindeer indie Clerkenwell Productions.
Notable performers
See-Saw Films, the scripted producer behind Apple TV’s Slow Horses and Netflix’s Heartstopper, tops the table with revenues up by a third to £167m.
Rounding out the top five are Avalon – the top-performing ‘true’ indie not under third-party ownership – with £114m (down 10%); NBC Universal’s Carnival Film & Television (£110m, up 17%) and Sony Pictures Entertainment companies Left Bank Pictures (£93m, down 8%) and Bad Wolf (£92m, down 41%).
Notable performers in this year’s report include A Woman of Substance producer The Forge, which debuted with a self-calculated 410% rise in turnover to £72.5m due to a string of major commissions and reorders; regular 5 drama supplier Clapperboard Studios (up 87% to £33m); entertainment producer CPL Productions (up 45% to £60m); and Northern Irish Blind Date co-producer Stellify Media, which leapt from 1.1m to £11.4m – a rise of 928%.
Almost a quarter (23%) of those polled are producing YouTube content, and more than half of these are self-commissioning. More than half (52%) are considering this option in the future, with 23% actively planning to do so.
Almost half (46%) won an original commission from a streamer in 2025 and 87% are in “active discussions”. Half said Netflix is the most likely of the streamers to give them business, followed by Amazon and Disney+ on 21 each.
Use of AI is up, with 68% using it in development in 2025 (up from 59% in 2024) and 39% in production (almost double 2024’s 20%).
As in previous years, the report does not feature contributions from All3Media, which chooses not to report its figures.
For a full picture of the survey, click here
