Britain's Most Valuable Export Is TV Formats

When we think of the most valuable exports from Britain, we think of cars, pharmaceutical products, and so forth.

While these exports do generate a lot of revenue for the country, we fail to consider a rather peculiar export – TV formats.

Yet, it makes sense. British TV formats generally go from Britain into dozens of countries, remade in different languages.

In 2024 and 2025, Britain ended up generating £2.02 billion from television exports. That’s up from £1.82 billion the year prior.

Making up the bulk of this revenue are actually finished programmes. In other words, many TV shows generate money far beyond their end date.

Selling Instructions, Not Tapes

It’s important to know that a sale of a format and a sale of an episode are two different things.

A sale of an episode is a sale of an actual tape. Nothing changes. A sale of a format, however, gives the right to rebuild a show locally, with local hosts, local contestants, and local prize money.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is the clearest example. It first launched on ITV in September 1998. Different versions have since aired in around 100 countries, making it the best-selling television format in the history of television.

Many other TV shows have followed this scaling strategy. Strictly Come Dancing, The Chase, and even Love Island all increased their revenue by selling their winning formats, not their tapes.

Kaun Banega Crorepati

Star India acquired the Asian rights to Millionaire in 1999, licensed down the chain from Celador in London.

What it built was the well-known Indian TV gameshow, Kaun Banega Crorepati, a show that premiered on 3 July 2000 with Amitabh Bachchan as the host.

It was an immediate hit, drawing in 15 million viewers per episode. The show has since then produced more than 1,450 episodes across seventeen seasons.

During this time, Britain was taking a cut of it all, regardless of whether this was a complete license deal at the beginning or a royalties-type deal.

Where Formats Earn Afterwards

Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash

The money doesn’t stop when episodes do, either. Non-programme consumer products in the Pact report represent £212 million in revenue.

A common example of where this “extra” revenue comes from is through game licensing. For example, TV shows selling the rights to redevelop their show into a game.

Deal or No Deal is a good example. Most famously, it’s been repurposed into a Megaways slot from a developer called Blueprint Gaming. This game can then be licensed to operators worldwide, bringing licensing revenue back to the UK.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is another option. It has been created into a slot game, an app, a console game, etc. When owned by a British company, this revenue returned to the UK as well.

A Quiet Export Business

Cars and pharmaceuticals will always dominate trade figures in the UK. However, Television will always be a hidden gem that not many know about.

It also presents a different opportunity. A car is sold once. A TV show can be sold in multiple formats to multiple countries in multiple languages.

The business model is very different and has its pros and cons, but it’s one that supports the British TV industry and the economy.