Barclays £100 million fund

Barclays has launched a new type of funding that aims to better support UK-based TV production clients in developing more streaming programs. The fund, which is the first of its kind to be offered by a major UK bank, is the Barclays’ response to the growing need of streaming services for funding to churn out their own original content.

Netflix has recently announced plans to spend at least £5 billion to produce more than 1,000 hours of original content this year while rival Amazon is expected to spend at least the same amount on video content for the e-commerce giant’s streaming service.

Barclays’ loan term has been modified to allow clients borrow money over a longer period of time as revenue from online content can be spread out over a longer period than a traditional broadcast TV show.

One of the first UK companies to benefit from the new fund is Roughcut Television, an independent production house known for producing BBC comedies such as Cuckoo and People Just Do Nothing.

Lorraine Ruckstuhl, the head of media at Barclays' corporate banking arm, said in a statement: "The TV industry specifically is in a really exciting place and is evolving at pace, with more than 250,000 people in the UK employed in the sector. We’ve been supporting TV production with a dedicated Media team for over 30 years, and know that to meet the needs of our clients we have to adapt with them and with the viewing habits of the public."