New £100m fund to support UK TV production
A new fund, the first of its kind from a major UK bank, has been established with new, innovative financing products that have been designed to meet the evolving needs of the TV sector.
The rise in popularity of SVoD (streaming video on demand) services led the Barclays Media team to consider how it could improve the types of funding provided to better support its TV clients. Conventional TV production loans are repaid as the content is delivered with the broadcaster paying the production company and funder simultaneously. With SVoD, revenues are often spread over a much longer term, which can present funding challenges.
The team developed Barclays SVoD Financing to more closely match the funding requirements of companies working with SVoD distributors. The product allows these companies to borrow money over a longer period, enabling them to use the funds to develop more ideas and programmes, which in turn supports more sustained employment and helps them to grow more quickly.
Lorraine Ruckstuhl, Head of Media at Barclays Corporate Banking said: “The creative industries in the UK are world famous due to the range and quality of content they produce. The TV industry specifically is in a really exciting place and is evolving at pace, with more than 250,000 people in the UK employed in the sector.
We’ve been supporting TV production with a dedicated Media team for over 30 years, and know that to meet the needs of our clients we have to adapt with them and with the viewing habits of the public. That’s why we created this fund and developed Barclays SVoD Financing, to help UK SMEs continue to compete both in the UK and internationally, support increased employment, and create even more great programmes.”
Barclays was the first UK bank to set up a dedicated Media team in 1986, and was also the first to develop the three-way lending structure that brings together the broadcaster, the production company and the bank to allow productions to be funded via a bank loan. The establishment of the £100m TV fund and innovative SVoD product are the latest examples of how the bank continues to adapt its propositions to meet the needs of the TV industry.
The creative industries in the UK are world famous due to the range and quality of content they produce. That’s why we created this fund and developed Barclays SVoD Financing, to help UK SMEs continue to compete both in the UK and internationally.
Head of Media at Barclays Corporate Banking