We’re all acutely aware of the challenges facing the sector right now, and Everyone TV’s report last month, by Oliver and Ohlbaum, warned that the UK production sector faces a further ‘spiral of decline’ if PSB commissioning continues to fall. It also highlights that 76% of all indie groups commissioned by PSBs are small indies.
So where are we in this spiral of decline and how healthy is the small indie market right now?
Today The Guardian reports on Indielab's analysis - and in this piece I set out the full picture.
At Indielab we regularly analyse the financial health of UK indies. We have been through Companies House filings for 203 active small independent producers - the segment that, according to the O&O report, make up 76% of all indie groups commissioned by PSBs. The picture is stark.
In this year’s analysis, as at August 2026, of the 203 companies in our pool, 114 (56%) saw their net assets (reserves) fall over the three-year period. 83 companies (40%) lost more than 30% of their reserves; 63 (31%) lost more than half. With a small indie now on average holding just £42,000 in reserves - a single delayed commission, a production overrun, or a series put on hold after delivery could threaten their survival.
At this rate of decline the analysis suggests 40% will be at risk of closure within 2 years.
The small producers O&O cites in its report make up a significant part of the UK ecosystem. But they are also the most financially exposed. When commissioning spend falls, small producers feel it first and hardest - and our data shows that the sector’s health is steadily being eroded, year on year.
Not all of the picture is bleak. 85 companies (42%) in our panel grew their reserves over the same period.
What distinguishes these companies is not luck. They have built business models suited to today’s market: diversifying revenue streams beyond primary commissions, developing co-production partnerships, and reducing their dependence on any single broadcaster. They demonstrate that commercially resilient independent production companies are achievable - even in this environment. The question for the sector is how to help more companies get there, and that requires sustained investment in the skills, knowledge and support that enable small producers to build for the long term.
We have seen many notable closures across the sector in the last two years - from small independents including Dare Pictures, Duck Soup Films and Proper Content – and we know of many more companies that have quietly closed or mothballed outside of those headlines. Our data strongly suggests this trend will accelerate.
This matters beyond the balance sheets of individual companies. As the O&O report suggests, the small indie pipeline is where the next generation of significant producers comes from. If small companies do not survive long enough to grow, that pipeline narrows. And if the pipeline narrows, UK television loses the breadth, diversity and creative risk-taking that makes it valuable - at home and internationally.
Two things need to happen. First, the PSB environment needs to be protected. The government must work with the sector on reforms that strengthen rather than weaken public service broadcasting. Indielab supports that call.
Second, and separately: PSBs with a statutory duty to support independent production need to consider what that duty really means in practice and whether they are currently meeting it.
If this unmanaged decline continues, it will be the result of a failure to act while the evidence was sitting in plain sight.
About the analysis
Indielab regularly analyses the financial health of the UK indie TV sector using net asset data from public filings at Companies House, tracked across a three-year window. The current analysis covers 203 active UK independent TV production companies. Net assets (assets minus all liabilities) is the primary metric: it represents the financial buffer a company can draw on to survive a gap in income. It is also the only figure consistently available across companies of this size, most of which file abridged accounts. Individual net asset positions may vary for a variety of reasons, but tracked across 203 companies the trend is clear. Data as at August 2026.
very sobering and loving it myself I know this to be true. Diversify or die :)