This week, the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA), the Brussels-based umbrella association of European collective management organisations (CMOs) representing audiovisual authors, published a new booklet titled Advancing Audiovisual Authors’ Rights in Europe. The body hosts 34 members in 26 countries, managing rights for over 167,000 European screenwriters and directors active in TV, film and other media.

According to the booklet, CMOs play a vital role within the audiovisual ecosystem, as they “represent and enforce audiovisual authors’ rights by negotiating licensing agreements with broadcasters, retransmission operators, streaming platforms and other users on behalf of their members, […] ensure that the authors’ rights are respected and that the authors actually receive royalties for the use of their works, […] promote cultural diversity, [and] contribute to the growth of the market by providing efficient licensing solutions and reducing transaction costs”.

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In the European Union, CMOs are regulated by the 2014 Collective Rights Management Directive, which harmonised minimum requirements on the rights of rightsholders, governance, transparency and the accountability of CMOs. In a 2021 report, the EU Commission concluded that CMOs are fulfilling their role and are having a positive effect on rightsholders and on the licensing market.

Moreover, the booklet provides some key figures. In 2022, a total of €700.1 million worth of royalties were collected by SAA members, deriving from broadcasting (37%), retransmission (25.2%), private copying (15.2%), online/on-demand uses (9.7%) and other uses (9.5%).

The document also touches on some figures concerning concentration and diversity provided by the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO). In total, the market was worth €130 billion in 2022 (€95 billion for the EU), with 9,349 TV channels and 3,315 VoD services and video-sharing platforms active. 85% of VoD viewing time was generated by only three services (Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+), with US companies being the largest group among the top 20 European audiovisual groups in terms of operating revenues. Overall, 12% of the fiction titles were commissioned by global streamers, 32% by private broadcasters and 55% by pubcasters.

Finally, the booklet envisions “a fragmented market for audiovisual authors”, wherein they remain at the heart of the creative process, but “their legal and economic situation differs widely from one country to another”.

“Thanks to the EU harmonised collective management of the retransmission right in the 1990s, audiovisual authors have received increased revenues for the retransmission of their works. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all types of exploitation, which means that authors are denied fair remuneration based on the success of their works. The scope of the collectively managed rights varies per country, which results in different levels of revenues. Because legislation and markets are still fragmented, audiovisual authors don’t receive royalties on all media in all European countries,” the SAA underscores.

The booklet is available to peruse here.