By Jeanette Steemers, King’s College London 

Although many British-produced shows including Netflix teen dramas like Sex Education and Heartstopper are hugely popular with younger audiences, there are clearly challenges around funding European drama, not least because domestic commissioners including public service broadcasters have less money to spend, but so do the streamers after a boom.  

In a previous piece for PMA, we focused on the shift of young people’s viewing to streaming platforms and how PSM is struggling to attract younger viewers. Our final report for the Screen Encounters with Britain project brings together findings from our case studies in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy to examine comparatively how young Europeans aged 16-34 engage with British films and TV programmes in a digital environment. Through surveys (1813 responses), digital diaries (102) and audience interviews (86) the research provides insights into what and how they watch, how they discover shows, their motivations for watching and the different perceptions they have about domestic and imported content. For public service broadcasters the report offers insights into favoured genres as a whole (scripted is more popular than unscripted), country-of-origin preferences (the US leads by a distance) and what is unappealing about domestic television.  

Read more: Switching off: Young audiences, streaming and public media

The first thing to note, is that young people are still watching, even if PSM providers are not their top choice. The consumption of ‘longform’ screen content (>20 min) remains an important form of entertainment for young people with three-quarters of respondents in Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands watching daily or 3-5 times a week, mostly for relaxation, comfort and repeat viewing of their favourite US sitcoms.  

However, in all 4 markets, surveys confirmed that longform content viewing is now dominated by global streamers, foremost Netflix (86%), rather than PSB streaming (43%), local commercial streaming services (25%) or linear TV (15%). Interviews and digital diaries revealed that local platforms offer less of the action-adventure, fantasy/sci-fi and comedy-drama genres which younger audiences crave, making them seem less relevant to this demographic. Netflix, followed by YouTube are the only platforms that really matter when it comes to contemporary content that young people like. Talent shows and reality TV, once staples of domestic platforms, no longer rank so highly among 16-34s. 

Young audience’s motivations for watching UK content provide some insights into their motivations in general. Those reasons shouldn’t distract from the dominance of US content in all our case studies. The UK ranked a distant second overall behind the US, as the top country of origin preference among survey respondents (18% vs 55%) and digital diarists (17% vs 58%). In Denmark and Italy, the UK ranked third after domestic content.  

Interviews revealed that strong reasons for choosing US shows and sometimes UK shows are perceptions about the lack of relevant domestic content and dislike of domestic drama, particularly in the Netherlands and Germany, where criticism focused on acting quality, lack of humour and emotional engagement, and a shortage of shows that interest younger audiences. 

In the case of Britain, its ‘unique’ and ‘ironic’ sense of humour is a key reason why young Europeans watch UK-made television shows and films. In the Netherlands and Denmark, British humour came out as the top reason (70% and 68% respectively) for watching UK shows and films. In Germany, it came 2nd (64%) as a reason for watching UK content, just behind the ease of watching in English. In Italy, by contrast, the main reason for watching UK shows was learning English and humour ranked seventh. 

Our report found that ‘humour’ was the word most associated with UK TV shows and films when 16-34-year-olds in Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands were asked to describe them in a few words. The research showed that young Europeans enjoy a wide range of British shows from comedy dramas such as Sex Education, Fleabag, Skins, and After Life, as well as stand-up and classics like Monty Python and Mr. Bean. The idea that humour doesn’t travel well due to cultural differences doesn’t hold true for many young audiences, especially those proficient in English. Many young viewers, spurred on by social media, crave humour and increasingly watch US and UK content with the original English-language soundtrack to ‘get the joke’.  

Stretched PSB commissioners are paying less for commissions, and distributors are finding it more difficult to bridge larger budget deficits on high-end productions in the international marketplace.

However, interviews revealed that interest in British shows is almost entirely driven by a very small number of scripted shows available on streaming services. They include streamer originals like Sex Education and Heartstopper. Yet they also include shows like Sherlock, Peaky Blinders, Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Fleabag, Top Boy and Black Mirror which first aired on PSBs in the UK. These are mostly available on streamers like Netflix and Amazon in Europe but not recognised as PSM commissions by audiences. It’s important not to forget the input of PSBs into some of the UK’s top shows overseas. 

The research also revealed how humour-driven social media posts are now key for spreading the word and aiding discovery of new shows. This is especially true for 16-19-year-olds, who are even drawn to niche shows like the UK’s Northern Ireland sitcom Derry Girls, and mockumentary Cunk on Earth by user-generated memes that create a buzz. 

Featured image: Friends watching TV. Students party. Young people, teenagers with fast food and drinks. Credit: Net Vector / Shutterstock.com