It might have only landed in the UK last month, but Paramount+ has been busy putting British film and TV crews to work.
One of the upsides of the battle between streaming companies for our eyeballs has been a greater emphasis on UK-bases productions. Firms such as Netflix, Sky and Amazon have secured studio space for their work making TV programmes and films on British soil, with long-term leases to do so. Even given the challenges Netflix is facing for instance, it’s got a decade-long commitment to British studio space.
Still, new research from Ampere has revealed that it’s a new player in the UK streaming space – Paramount+ – that’s really doubled down on a commitment to British commissions.
Its latest report confirms that Netflix remains the company in the marketplace most actively commissioning in the UK, with 16 shows given the greenlight in the first five months of the year. Yet Paramount+ – which has a far smaller overall production budget – has given the nod to 13. That’s more than Amazon, Apple and Disney put together.
The research notes that Paramount+ is focusing the bulk of its attention with these commissions on crime and thrillers, and that’s very much reflective of what British audiences are watching.
Paramount+, as with Universal’s Peacock service, has also signed a distribution deal with Sky, that allows its productions to be made available to the latter’s customers.
Expect the fruits of its commissioning work to bear fruit in particular from the end of the year onwards.
