RTÉ spent more than €43m on independent programming last year

Ten independent TV companies shared €24.3 million, or 58 per cent, of the total €39 million paid out by RTÉ in television commissions last year.

That is according to the 2022 RTÉ Independent Productions annual report which shows the state broadcaster last year spent €43.6 million on independent programming across TV and radio.

The outlay is €2.6 million more than RTÉ was statutorily required to spend on independent programming each year.

Highlights included the documentary series Quinn Country on businessman Sean Quinn by Holy Island Films “which achieved enormous audiences on both RTÉ One and RTÉ Player” and was “our biggest impact series”, according to the report.

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The report also states that “Coco Content’s flagship series Room to Improve continued to deliver the kind of audiences and talkability that are the benchmarks for all series in the Sunday night slot”.

Some of the other well-known RTÉ shows produced by independent firms include Shinawil’s Dancing with the Stars, Coco Content’s First Dates and Bron Releasing UK’s Kin Series 2.

According to the 2022 report, the record levels of inflation created by Russian invasion of Ukraine “put huge pressure on the budgets of all programming as the costs, some of which included power, heat, light, travel and accommodation reached record levels”.

The report adds: “This, combined with a high volume of international productions taking place in Ireland, led to further inflation in the costs of crews, editing and special effects.”

It adds: “Notwithstanding these pressures, the Irish independent audiovisual sector returned to near full production capacity and RTÉ commissioned most of the indigenous programming produced by the sector.”

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The national broadcaster last year spent €41.3 million on independent television shows and €1.4 million on radio.

A total of 899 hours comprising 414 radio hours and 485 hours of television was commissioned in 2022.

In addition to the €24.3 million paid out to the 10 independent companies, a further €7 million, 17 per cent, of new commissioners were awarded to a further 10 independent firms.

Underlining the increasingly competitive nature of the independent TV commissioning sector here, 190 firms made 777 proposals for TV, with RTÉ awarding 126 commissions for 485 hours of TV.

The report states that the total value of RTÉ independent television programming activities in 2022, inclusive of all third-party funding, was €74.8 million.

This takes into account Broadcasting of Ireland Authority (BAI) funded programming of €4.9 million, co-funding programming of €20.28 million and Section 481 tax credit programming totalling €7.4 million.