TV meeting tunes in to channel joint success stories

A China-UK TV Innovation Meeting was held in Beijing on Nov 11, bringing together top British TV production companies and their Chinese counterparts to discuss possibilities of cooperation in China's TV production sector.

The Pact (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) leads 16 independent British TV production companies, whose award-winning products include animation, documentaries, features and entertainment.

Participating Chinese industry players include CCTV and Shanghai-based SMG, and China's leading video websites such as iQiyi, Youku/Tudou and Tencent Video.

Video websites have become the major platform for watching overseas TV series and entertainment shows, most of which don't enjoy a chance of being shown on TV channels because of censorship or quota limitations.

Zhang Yuxin, iQiyi's senior director of business development, said during the meeting that in addition to improving the quality of videos, they've also been trying to widen the source of programs by cooperating with production companies or TV channels in the US, South Korea, Germany and Japan to attract more audiences.

The UK is expected to maintain its role as the major source of China's online content as it has a high reputation in the production of TV dramas, with hit TV series such as Sherlock and Downton Abbey drawing 120 million viewers in 200 countries around the world.

British dramas are expected to reach 160 million online viewers in China over the next 2 to 3 years.

"China is the fastest growing market for UK television producers – our latest report shows sales have increased by 90 per cent in the last year,"said John McVay, CEO of Pact.

"This is sure to be the beginning of a strong and long-lasting business relationship between Chinese buyers and the UK indies."