Commissioning is under pressure, budgets are tighter and audiences are building viewing habits way beyond traditional linear television. The answer isn’t simply making the same shows for less money - it’s rethinking how unscripted content is developed, financed and distributed.
IP ownership
Owning IP is key. The UK has built a global reputation on creating formats that travel, and owning those formats has never been more valuable. Increasingly, producers need to think internationally from day one: can this format be commissioned beyond a single territory?
Long live development
The unscripted commissioning process is changing, so development needs to as well. Instead of waiting for broadcasters to fund and greenlight every idea, producers are increasingly experimenting and iterating in the digital, audio, short form and vertical spaces first. YouTube has become a development lab, a place to test concepts, build audiences and prove demand before taking projects to commissioners. Iterating for less money and building a following can be a key to unlocking commissions – but it can also mean you evade them completely and build a universe elsewhere, with less red tape.
Creator as talent, and talent as creator
The creator economy is changing talent relationships too. The biggest creators don’t just bring audiences; they attract brands, communities and their own IP. Rather than competing with that, TV producers have an opportunity to combine digital reach with TV’s expertise for established talent.
Nutopia’s digital-first venture, Youtopia, is one example of established producers investing in digital-first development. This is platform and creator –specific, rather than treating digital as an afterthought or stepping stone. It also means they can be more entrepreneurial in ownership of that IP with the talent, and have more to barter with commissioners.
Demographics vs psychographics
Audience thinking needs to evolve with the times. As Evan Shapiro said at the Edinburgh TV Festival, demographics age up. A 15-34 year-old audience today won’t behave like that same age bracket from even a decade ago. Psychographics – defined by interests, behaviours and communities – are becoming a much better way to understand what people watch and more specifically, how they watch them. He called in this age of the ‘affinity economy’ – finding an audience that becomes a community, and those being your ride or die target.
The funding puzzle
Funding also has to get more creative. The film industry has long assembled finance on projects from multiple sources before taking them to market; unscripted needs to adopt more of that mindset. Brand funding, private investment, partnerships and creator-led businesses are all becoming part of the financing conversation.
Data will tell us what worked, but it will only speculate as to why. The next generation of factual hits will come from producers willing to innovate and experiment with new funding models, new platforms and new ways of building IP - before everyone else catches up.