Yle to purchase more Finnish drama – Uusi päivä series to continue for two more seasons
Yle will purchase more Finnish drama from outside the company. In 2017–2020, Yle will allocate an additional 20 million euros to developing and purchasing new Finnish drama.
The decision is based on the obligation set by the parliamentary working group that filed its report in June, and it will impact on production personnel, as Yle's production of its own programmes will decrease.
Yle is planning to have more diverse drama programmes, including regular dramas for children and young people, as well as international joint productions. The objective, together with public service companies, private production companies and international financiers, is to extend the international distribution of Finnish drama.
Drama as recreation and entertainment is facing a major change, as viewers are moving in large numbers away from traditional television to online services. More and more Finnish viewers are also watching drama series from streaming services such as Yle Areena. This trend also emphasises international competition.
Yle will plan drama programming in a new way to better respond to the new viewing trends and to changes in the use of media. The drama series Uusi päivä will continue for two new seasons. The daily drama series premiered in October 2010, and the last episodes of the extended production run will air in autumn 2018. Yle will also maintain its own drama production, which will be centred in Helsinki.
“TV drama is globally in a golden age, and Finnish content is comfortably on the bandwagon. We want, together with Finnish production companies, to develop new successes, including in international markets. This will produce benefits for everyone”, says Ville Vilén, creative director at Yle.
A number of new features in progress
In addition to watching drama, the ways that Finnish people search for information, understand the world and listen to music are changing.
“Yle has a good relationship with its audiences, and people believe in Yle. We want to maintain this position. That is why we want to change our operations by re-allocating 15–20 per cent of Yle's resources to new areas over the next four years. We will reorganise the company's cost structures and keep our finances in balance, even though the Yle tax will not increase, while costs are becoming higher. In addition to drama, we will also increase other external purchases according to our guidelines. This will have various impacts on our personnel, which will be identified as planning proceeds”, says Lauri Kivinen, CEO of Yle.
Yle will also invest heavily in online news services, children's programmes and services intended for young people. As part of these changes, Yle will review a large number of programmes and evaluate their release online, on the radio and on television. In addition, Yle will examine ways to produce content in new, cost-effective ways.
More information:
Lauri Kivinen, CEO, tel.: +358 9 14801
Reija Hyvärinen, Director of Communications, tel.: +358 40 7502 999
