The European Audiovisual Observatory study addresses the exhibition of EU and other European films in 24 markets of the EU27 area, from three different angles

This week, the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) published a new report titled “Films on EU screens: A Comparative Analysis of the Film Offering in Cinemas, on VoD and on TV”. Authored by Christian Grece and Gilles Fontaine, the research addresses the exploitation of EU and other European films in 24 markets of the EU27 area (Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus are not included), from three different angles: a film angle, with the objective to describe the portfolio of movies actively exploited in the EU in 2022; a consumers’ angle, with the goal to describe the portfolio of films available in each European Union country; and a market angle, which aims to identify the market shares in the supply of films to European consumers.

Three datasets were picked for the research. For theatrical releases, the study used data drawn from the EAO’s LUMIERE database. For films release on VoD platforms, it relied on data provided by JustWatch and checked by the EAO. For films on TV, the datasets covered 878 linear TV channels with data provided by Metaprofile and again checked by the EAO.

The first key figures see the share of EU films standing at 23% of movies on offer, complemented by 10% of other European films (with UK titles alone accounting for 8%). Zooming in on films released in EU theatres, the share of EU movies tops 30%.

On average, a consumer based in the EU had access to an average of almost 40,000 different films in 2022, including 6,300 available for free on AVoD or on free TV. However, the report highlights how availability changes depending on the territory – ranging from 58,000 titles available in Germany to just 24,000 in Romania.

Among the 40,000 films available on average for an EU consumer, more than 13,000 were European titles, including 9,000 EU ones. Notably, in all the EU countries surveyed but France, most of these EU films were EU non-national, and in 13 EU countries, EU non-national films accounted for over 90% of EU films available.

On the whole, the share of US productions was lower in cinemas (owing to the growth of European films) and on SVoD (with more films from other parts of the world) than in other distribution windows.

Moreover, the report finds that EU member states rely much more on non-national titles (79%) than on domestic ones (21%). In detail, among non-national European works, the EU achieves a 61% market share, as against a 39% share for non-EU countries, even though these figures vary within the different markets.

Finally, the study indicates that 67% of all EU films theatrically released in the EU between 1996 and 2021 were shown in cinemas, on VoD or on TV in 2022. Furthermore, out of this sample, EU27 films from 2007-2021 being shown in 2022 accounted for about 95% of all theatrical admissions to EU27 films between 1996 and 2021.

The full document can be accessed here.