A panel moderated by the European Audiovisual Observatory at Collection Mania on Tuesday analyzed four main trends in sequential production in Europe.
Warning indicators?
Gilles Fontaine, head of EAO’s market information department, said there are warning signs of a downward trend in the number of stations produced, first in the US and now, presumably, in Europe.
According to figures from FX Content Analysis, after steady growth in the number of seasons in the US from 2015, when it was at 422 seasons, until 2022, when it peaked at 600, last year the number dropped to 516. Fontaine requested: It was a short-term impression of the strikes or the beginning of a prolonged recession? Meanwhile, in Europe, the number of stations grew from 426 in 2015 to 873 in 2022, in line with EAO figures.
Pandora Gagnon Da Cunha Teles, producer at Ukbar Filmes in Portugal, vice-president of the Association of European Producers, said the picture was mixed and some signals were contradictory. While in some countries, such as Poland, Germany and the Nordic countries, there have been indicators of contraction, in others, such as France and Portugal, and other countries that have implemented the EU Audiovisual Media Undertakings Directive, which mandates funding by streamers in local production, there are signs of a reverse trend with increased production levels.
When asked if she was alarmed by the prospect of a recession, Lucia Recalde, unit head of the audiovisual trade and media support program at the European Commission’s Creative Europe Media program, asked another question: “Were production levels in the final years sustainable ?” She replied: “Possibly not.”
She said the time it takes one person to consume all the professionally produced content available on streaming platforms is 350 years.
“That’s the level of competition all media companies are facing today in the so-called consideration economy,” she said. “We see that streamers are more cautious when it comes to investment decisions because the main criteria is not the subscription base, it is profitability. We also see that broadcasters, who are still the main commissioners in Europe, are affected by a loss in advertising revenue.”
She said this could very well be interpreted as a warning of a change out there. “The question is, how do we prepare for this?” she said.
Winners and losers
The second trend was addressed under the banner “Winners and Losers,” which, on the other hand, airs programs commissioned by broadcasters and individuals commissioned by streamers, and showed a “strong distinction” between the two, Fontaine said, with broadcasters supporting more strongly local content.
Streamers tend to focus their generosity in fewer countries, with winners including producers in Spain and the UK, followed by France and Italy, then Sweden and Poland, with Germany, the Benelux countries and the rest of Europe. doing much less well.
“Streaming is changing the topography of production in Europe,” said Fontaine.
Recalde said the challenge was to move towards truly European programs, while Gagnon Da Cunha Teles said the important thing was to establish stories that could travel internationally, benefiting from the worldwide distribution that streamers have built.
How robust is the trade?
The third development to be mentioned was placed under the motto “How Robust is Commerce?”
Fontaine said that despite data suggesting increasing consolidation in the manufacturing market, research suggested the market was still quite numerous.
Large broadcasting groups still only generate about 30% of full production hours, while independent companies account for the remainder, with smaller independent companies providing 56%.
Newcomers to the sector are also a considerable power, suggesting a healthy turnover. The variety of producers producing their first sequence represented 43% of total producers and 20% of completed hours. The share of production hours produced by the top 10 producers is not increasing, Fontaine said.
“There are indicators of consolidation, but it is still a very diverse panorama,” he stated.
Gagnon Da Cunha Teles stated that the important thing for creating sustainable companies is to generate sufficient revenue that can be invested in developing recent exhibitions and generating revenue from new initiatives. “We must remember that more than half of the products that producers develop do not go into production,” he said.
Gagnon Da Cunha Teles and Recalde highlighted the need for industrial companies to build an IP catalog, maintaining the appropriate one, and develop a portfolio of series with the aim of attracting private investors to the sector.
Enough co-productions?
The fourth development was offered under the motto “Enough Co-Productions?” Fontaine noted that the number of co-productions in TV series was not increasing and was still much lower than in cinema. The number of co-productions between countries that shared the same language, such as Germany and Austria, was decreasing, while the number of truly global co-productions was increasing.
Gagnon Da Cunha Teles stated that he discovered the ideal business through co-production, together with “Operación Marea Negra”, Amazon Prime Video’s first Portuguese-Spanish co-production. However, she added that in TV there was a need to act quickly and often the procedures regulating production incentives slowed the process. “We would like a lighter system,” she said. She also highlighted the need to find stories that work in different markets.
Recalde called for a broader idea of collaboration than just co-production, to incorporate co-writing and co-development, for example, and extend it “upstream and downstream.” “We need to talk less about co-productions and more about collaborations, collaborations that happen in the writing phase, in the event phase and in the co-production phase, and also – why not? – in the distribution and promotion phase.”
Gagnon Da Cunha Teles commented that “collaboration” was advantageous until it came to the removal of producers’ rights.
The session was moderated by Susanne Nikoltchev, executive director of the European Audiovisual Observatory, with Fontaine.
