Sports producer IMG Media has come out on top of the Production 100, Televisual’s annual survey of the indie production sector.

Ranked on turnover, IMG Media took the top spot with revenues of £136.3m. IMG credits include a huge array of sport, including the Premier League, horse racing, darts, snooker and Wimbledon.

In second place was X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent co-producer Thames, with revenues of £89.6m, while Deal or No Deal and The Million Pound drop producer Remarkable Television came third with a turnover of £70.5m.

The survey reports on an indie sector which has enjoyed a good 12 months with reported total UK revenues of £2.1bn.

A number of indies have had a particularly strong year, with outfits such as Raw TV, Baby Cow, The Garden, Mammoth Screen, Big Talk and True North doubling their turnover.

Indies said the UK commissioning market had picked up, and many had continued to expand into international markets.

As the UK indie sector has become more export focused, several indies such as Wag TV, Raw TV, Darlow Smithson, Studio Lambert and Blink Films now earn more than 50% of their revenues from international broadcasters.

The majority of indies (54%) said they were confident about the prospects for business in the year ahead.

At the same time, though, the survey reveals an indie sector that is working harder than ever, in a very competitive landscape, to maintain success. Long hours, falling budgets and stress are part and parcel of the experience of many production executives.

Many indies also said they feared the sector was becomingly increasingly risk averse, producing shows that look and feel the same in a bid to mitigate failure.

Indies said that budgets had fallen by 2.27% over the past year.

24 Hours in A&E producer The Garden took the top spot in the Production 100 Peer Poll, based on votes by rival indies. Raw TV came second, while Wall to Wall was third in the Peer Poll.

The top 10 indies according to the Production 100:

1. IMG Media (£136.3m)
2. Thames (£89.6m)
3. Remarkable (£70.5m)
4. Lime Pictures (£60m)
5. Carnival Film and Television (£52.7m)
6. Twofour (£47.3m)
7. Wall to Wall (£47m)
8. Initial (£45.8m)
9. Tiger Aspect (£45m)
10. Shine TV (£44m)

The full Production 100 survey is available to read in Televisual’s September issue.

Tim Dams

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