BBC Worldwide last week announced an agreement with ACC Liverpool that will see its annual BBC Worldwide Showcase event, the world’s biggest single-distributor TV sales market, remain at the venue up to and including 2019.

The sales market, held every year in February, attracts around 700 of the world’s leading TV and digital buyers, as well as many of Britain’s top programme makers from both the BBC and the independent production community, who come to purchase and promote the latest British content releases.

According to statistics from ACC Liverpool, temporary employment created within ACC Liverpool to service BBC Worldwide Showcase 2016 equated to some 680 man days, in areas such as cleaning, stewarding and catering. The expected economic impact generated as a direct result of BBC Worldwide Showcase taking place in Liverpool in 2016 was just over £1.5m[1], plus benefits from the additional PR value derived from staging the internationally prestigious event.

BBC Worldwide Chief Executive Tim Davie said:

“BBC Worldwide Showcase is the most important event in our calendar. It gives us an unparalleled opportunity to promote great British content to the world’s broadcasters and allows us to place the UK creative industries on a global stage. ACC Liverpool is the perfect venue for us: its size and flexibility match our ambition and our customers love visiting one of Britain’s most iconic cities.”

Bob Prattey, Chief Executive of The ACC Liverpool Group, home to BT Convention Centre, Echo Arena and Exhibition Centre Liverpool, said:

“Due to its nature and scale, BBC Worldwide Showcase is one of the most complex events in our programme and has been a key conference since its first outing to Liverpool in 2012.

“Each year the event changes in terms of the use and demands on the building. We have formed a unique partnership with the BBC Worldwide team to ensure the continued success of Showcase and a combined dedication to raising the bar each year.

“BBC Worldwide’s trust and confidence in ‘Team Liverpool’s’ ability to deliver is demonstrated in the three year extension to the contract.”

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson said:

“We are delighted to be welcoming BBC Worldwide Showcase to the city for the next three years and proud to be continuing as the home of this prestigious and internationally recognised event. The talent, expertise, profile, jobs and economic impact the event has brought in to the city since 2012 has been a source of great pride for Liverpooland we look forward to continuing our support of Tim and the team as they take BBC Showcase from strength to strength.”

ACC Liverpool has hosted BBC Worldwide Showcase since 2012, during which time the event has featured some of British television’s most loved personalities including Sir David Attenborough, Peter Capaldi, Michelle Keegan, Chris Evans, Matt LeBlanc, Maimie McCoy, Rowan Atkinson, Keeley Hawes, James Norton, MyAnna Buring and John Cleese, as well as David Beckham, who appeared at this year’s Showcase to promote his recent documentary.

BBC Worldwide Showcase celebrated its 40^th anniversary in 2016, having grown from humble beginnings in 1976, when 25 intrepid TV buyers gathered in a Brighton pub to view British programmes.  Since then the size and scale has grown to make Showcase the UK’s biggest TV sales market, during which international TV and digital buyers watch on average between six and eight hours of programmes a day.