TV production: €150 M in exports in 2005
French TV programmes (sales and pre-sales) have exported well last year, garnering €150.8m (up 2.7% over the previous year), according to a study conducted by TV France International and the CNC (Centre National de la Cinématographie) and published last week during the traditional professional Rendez-Vous organised in Saint-Tropez.
This positive trend reveals the vitality of French fiction programmes, documentaries and cartoons, which earned €133m, an increase of 10.4% over 2004. Animated titles continue to be the main genre of interest for foreign buyers (€67.2m, up 10 %), but fiction has become popular with €31.4m, an augment of 28.6% compared to the previous year in sales, and an increase of 55.2% in pre-sales.
The 21.6% loss by co-productions (with €67.8m) can be explained by the success of the new policy reorganising production expenses across the territory (a consequence of the introduction of a tax credit). Furthermore, although majority French co-productions are down 30.4%, co-productions with a foreign majority partner keep climbing (+15.3%), especially for fiction titles.
In terms of export buyers, Europe remains the main export area, with nearly two thirds of all sales (€74.7m). Western European countries in particular represent €66.8m of those sales, led by Italy (€15.3m). However, Spain is still a difficult market to access.
As far as Central Europe is concerned, sales have decreased by €0.7m due to less interest by the countries of the CEI, but Hungary and Poland continue to buy more French programmes.
The true revolution is that the US have become the main buyer, with €17.8m worth of French TV programmes bought or pre-bought in 2005. Sales have taken off slightly in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
With regard to co-production, European investments have seriously declined (-20.2 %), especially from Italy (-35 %), while Belgium (+70 %) and Switzerland remain on top of the list of fiction partners (following top investor Canada), unlike Germany, whose financial input has seriously decreased.
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
