The red-hot global market for U.S. television
The entertainment company Lionsgate will release earnings Monday. Last quarter, one of the bright spots for the company was revenue it made by licensing the TV show “Orange Is the New Black” to international markets.
And Lionsgate isn’t the only studio profiting from those international television deals.
The global market for television is “red hot,” according to Rod Perth, CEO of the National Association of Television Program Executives. “Before shows are even produced these days in Hollywood, the international potential of those shows has to be considered,” he said.
Perth said today “there are shows that are in profit, before they go on the air, because of foreign sales.”
Those foreign markets are helping expensive television get made. They’re also changing the type of television that gets made. And who is cast.
“There is an idea that a more diverse, not totally white show, is going to sell better internationally,” said Tim Havens, a communication studies professor at the University of Iowa.
There’s also more focus than ever before on shows like “Orange Is the New Black,” television for an upscale demographic.
Because now you can reach those people, all around the world.
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