James R | On 21, Sep 2019

Netflix will be spending around $500 million on British content this year, as it steps up its investment in the UK.

Netflix has been steadily pushing into British productions, led by shows such as The Crown and Black Mirror. In the last year alone, over 25,000 cast, crew and extras have worked on almost 40 Netflix originals and co-productions across Britain. These include Sex Education in Wales, Outlaw King in Scotland, Jingle Jangle at Arborfield Studios, Cursed at Langley Studios and The English Game — a new series written and produced by Julian Fellowes — in Manchester.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings for the first time spelled out how much it was spending on making or licensing British titles.

“We’re going to see a very large increase in how much content is produced here,” Hastings revealed. That presents a lot of opportunities and a lot of challenges in terms of capacity, training and development.”

Hastings added that Netflix has allocated the UK its second-biggest production budget after the US, accounting for around 10 per cent of TV consumption in the US and 5 per cent in the UK.

The comments follow Netflix’s announcement this summer that it is creating a dedicated production hub, featuring 14 sound stages, workshops and office space, at Shepperton Studios.

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