Out of 23 Prime Time series which aired in nine or more Western European countries (among 11 countries), only two are not Crime and Action-based (BBC’s Ghosts and the European drama coproduction Family like ours). English-speaking procedurals retain the large majority of the best exporting series; and because these assets are so crucial to channels’ line-up, they don’t follow a one-size-fits-all strategy. Limited titles’ owners; multiple broadcasting partners Procedurals catalogues are concentrated among a few US and UK brands, yet a title-to-title approach remains to optimise monetisation. Broadcasters’ selection is seemingly more window-centric than distributor-centric. Among the top 23 series previously mentioned, 9 came from CBS. The sheer size of this “hits” output explains why Paramount would need to work with multiple buying partners in international markets. As a result, we see S.W.A.T. and FBI landed on different broadcasters’ line-ups - with the former seemingly more premium (TF1 and Sky, M6 and ProsiebenSat.1 for the latter). CBS parent, Paramount Global, goes as far as relinquishing to self-broadcast its biggest assets in the UK through Channel 5, and rather sells them to Sky. Public broadcasters span the spectrum in reliance on US procedurals Italy’s RAI is a very active purchaser of US procedurals, as it aired 5 of the 7 most exported series from our top. So much so that Mediaset acquired the rights to The Rookie and FBI for Spain only. On the other end of the spectrum, Spain stands as an outlier: RTVE aired little to no English-speaking procedurals in Prime Time. Most European broadcasters adopt a selective approach, using these series to diversify their line-up and increase their reach. They are especially keen on British procedurals, which might help with nationality-based content quotas. While BBC’s staples are mostly funnelled to public broadcasters, ITV series meet more diverse destinies. For instance, Vera landed on ProsiebenSat.1 when most other ITV titles went to ARD/ZDF. Spin-offs are complementary, but significant Franchises' new iterations are often distributed as complementary titles, as they follow similar broadcasting patterns as their parent show, with the exception of FBI: Most Wanted landing on Mediaset instead of RAI. Death in Paradise, FBI, Chicago, NCIS, Law & Order… All these brands placed their spin-off among the most aired titles in Europe. Together, these 5 franchises topped 19 000 Prime Time broadcast hours across Western Europe, and more than half of them stemmed from their spin-offs. However, the erosion of linear TV consumption is putting this equilibrium at risk. On the one hand, TV provides the strongest large-scale visibility engine for US procedural libraries. This passive, high-frequency exposure keeps older franchises culturally present and economically valuable in a way that streaming, FAST, or SVOD platforms struggle to replicate due...
