For Broadcast March 19, 2008

There are various ways independent producers can grow quickly: win more commissions, buy other indies, increase their production genres or add distribution assets.

Producers are also starting to build in-house digital capabilities to better exploit new distribution platforms such as online and mobile. See Fremantle Media, Tinopolis and Endemol, for example.

And then there is Twofour. The Plymouth-based producer makes Are You Smarter than a Ten Year Old? for Sky One but has more in its sights than just TV commissions. Last autumn it bought interactive environments producer Hard Core Monkey Crash and it also supplies an IPTV service to the Shoreditch Trust. Next month it is opening an office in Chennai, India, to house four more software developers (the company has 24 already on staff). Plus, a pretty big chunk of the company's revenues comes from developing corporate media - including websites - for companies such as Audi. It is on track to make £35m turnover this year.

Twofour is not dependent on the five big UK broadcasters. In a world where the financial outlook is grim, that might not be a bad template for the industry.