PERSPECTIVE
Viewpoints from the frontline of content.
By Siobhan Crawford
23-02-2026
LONDON TV SCREENINGS: C21’s resident formats expert Siobhan Crawford looks ahead to this week’s London TV Screenings and keeps an eye out for where the money resides on the streets of Soho.
As the European and Australian buyers head to London for another February Screenings (umbrellas at the ready) I thought we would talk about money. I mean, it makes the world go round, right? Yet in 2026 it feels like it takes longer to earn, you have to be more strategic to find it, and you often end up disappointed.
Let’s be clear, money does not equal happiness, but have you seen a salesperson after they closed a format commission? Cloud nine. That’s all I am saying.
So, let’s figure out who has it, how much and how we can get it.
Format Fees
A UK and US deal has always been the pinnacle but remember, after Edinburgh Festival last year, the UK became fixated on ‘English ideas’ (sorry, but does The Traitors not prove that regional commissioning can be ‘flexible’?) mostly, so let’s agree that is not in the mix.
The US, as we all know, had and is still going through turbulence, but even without that, the commercial language in many contracts now will see format fees capped at $25-50k per episode, which in our money is €21-42k. Now, I want you to remember this is the cap because US clients don’t agree to floors… so this is the most you will get, and it will likely be less.
In the world of comparisons in 2026, Germany is where you find your money! Woo Go Europe! And no, we are of course not blind to reducing workforces and risk aversion in our beloved Germany but this is a territory that commissions big, still could take a chance on paper, has healthy budgets (you can achieve equal or more than a US format fee revenue without losing any international backend percentage) and has not really seen ‘inflation’ in production budgets like we have seen in our other love… Spain.
Spain is the biggest importer of formats worldwide, which if you really think about it is wild because it means loads of formats were still available to buy! In Spain, you could get a 200-episode daily order (lucky duck) or a six-to-10-episode series, but the fees for primetime (thank you RTVE) are big, meaning this is also where the money is for established IP. If you really want to play the field, Discovery TVN have put Poland on the map and budgets can be equitable to Nordics for some projects.
So for format fees look to Europe, but honestly, money comes from the same paths – repeated business builds trust, you cannot go in cold.
Claudia Winkelman hosts the UK version of format sensation The Traitors
Free Money
There are pots of money around formats: distribution advances, development partnerships and first rights of refusals, that can all come into play. The distribution advances will be the chunkiest amounts – think up to €500k for premium evergreen IP but this will only come from the big groups and with it a list of requirements including, but not limited to, distribution in their entire footprint or the world and two-to-10-year windows.
While this advance may be exciting, it does mean you won’t receive anymore money till it is recouped. With groups, these deals could be framed as options, and to do this would mean you can try to negotiate for partial recoupability. Then there are first looks. You receive a payment from a company so they have first access to your development slate. This can feel like free money because you are probably developing anyway, so someone is just paying for access, but they could build the ‘option’ fees into the payment and you need to set the number of projects for inclusion to a number you are comfortable with and based on a good ROI. With development partnerships, this is certainly not free. A payment is given by a specific client for you to develop out a slate of ideas around a brief they have given you, you then co-develop and they have the right to the titles at the end. It is more ‘work for hire’ style but if you are a great developer and potentially don’t have the capacity to scale for large productions, this can be a good idea.
But again, if you want this money, then you need to get your arse to London or Paris. But again, you can’t start cold – you have to have something they want like an expertise in a certain genre and then make really smart deals!
Mini Money
I am the girl who still says ‘tape’. And I get teased about it from my ‘tape’ friends. However, selling the local series of a format outside the territory can generate money. The BIG but? Holdbacks, exclusive rights to acquire, first and last matching rights. Uffff. And it always boils down to format versus tape priority. It is all manageable and sometimes there is a huge upside – US simulcast to Canada, UK to Australia, Belgium to Netherlands – it can put five figures on top of a format fee just for one tape sale to one country. Let the content genre dictate strategy but if you are in Formatland with me, then probably you say ‘tape’ too, so you are thinking about the format.
Paying a share of producer fee/margin with a format fee is a thing. It is also an additional revenue stream some companies are asking for to gain access to their formats. Generally, at a time when every producer is squeezed, it is controversial to ask for this and pay it. So my rule – don’t give money for nothing, if you pay extra you get extra help. Thankfully, yes, I practice what I preach.
Ok I will say it quick. FAST. Digital first. I know everyone has a FAST channel but I am not sure who really makes meaningful money from this? Certainly not the producers, this is also not an ‘industry’ that even has explosive or even good growth forecasts. There are costs to procure and manage these channels, and honestly who can find them to watch?
The understanding is this is brand funded production with little to no production margin. The upside is generally, you get all the revenues if you own the channel, but the monthly revenue will entirely depend on your subscriber base. Possibly we are talking four figures, the real money will come from attaching additional sponsors to the already funded content as that will be pure profit. But any digital content requires serious investment to manage and market, so I am not sure if you count the cost you don’t end up a breakeven situation? And ultimately, all these creators are out here wanting to sell their content as formats afterwards for their 5%!
And I don’t want to miss the opportunities to make money with existing IP in the form of non-audiovisual IP like boardgames and literary adaptions in unscripted. I think this is very underutilised exploitation. The fact you have to share the backend revenue from the get-go is balanced against the fact you have a built-in audience base. I know many publishing houses have available IP and they would be delighted by the sales bumps you generate with an unscripted adaption. But it also has a strong central concept and nostalgia. It can also become a ‘moment’ in society.
One final category, ancillary. Now, this used to mean phone voting predominantly. Now it means merchandising, off-screen sponsorship, promotional tie ins. I do not believe this is a true revenue stream in 2026. Getting more viewers to the screen will be more important than investment in ancillary, unless you are partnering with a non-audiovisual IP.
Is there money around? Absolutely. Does it feel like you are aging while you wait for it? Yes. Do channels keep telling you they are full till 2027? For sure. But one thing I said in a recent internal meeting was that things can be done in parallel. Some enquiries and actions can start now, they might need time to build, they might have no cost at all and it saves you from big pivots when you can make small parallels.
Go and be fruitful my friends… but stay dry in the London hustle.
