Netflix has doubled its UK production budget to $1billion (£750m).
The streaming giant has expanded its budget to spend on more than 50 shows in the UK, as a spokesperson said current Netflix hits are a ‘testament’ to UK talent.
Despite a testing year for Netflix, which saw production of the second season of The Witcher halted twice amid the pandemic, it has increased its budget by 50% from the $500m spent on British-made films and TV shows last year.
A Netflix spokesperson, said: ‘The UK is an incredibly important market to Netflix and we’re proud to be increasing our investment in the U.K.’s creative industries.
‘The Crown, Sex Education and The Witcher are among the shows that have been made in the UK this year and will be watched by the world.
And these shows are a testament to the depth of talent that exists here.’
‘We will continue to invest in the best content in every genre, and are fully committed to supporting British production and creative talent for many years to come.’
The mammoth budget allocated for the UK is the largest in all of Europe and is second only to the money spent on U.S-based productions.
The streamer has recently been investing in studios to base its new productions and last year set up its UK base at Shepperton Studios outside London.
The first production was the Charlize Theron film The Old Guard.
Last year it was budgeted that Netflix would spend £400M on his UK shows however in the end it invested another £100M.
By way of comparison, the BBC’s total annual content budget across all of its platforms was £2.3billion last year, reports the Guardian.
It was reported that its TV spent was around £1.6billion while ITV spent an estimated £1.1billion across all of its channels.
Within this, spend on TV content was £1.6bn. ITV spends about £1.1bn annually on content for its portfolio of channels