One third of all AV media services established in the EU exist as locally adapted versions

On 16 October 2018, the European Audiovisual Observatory issued its annual report based on data gathered in the MAVISE Database. This year’s edition is entitled “Audiovisual Media in Europe: Localised, Targeting and Language Offers” and provides an overview of the European audiovisual media landscape by looking at the origin of linear and pay-on-demand audiovisual services and their circulation through three complementary angles: localised, targetting and language offers.

The significance of localised AV services established in Europe: an increasing number of services are adapted to different national markets either as TV channels in different linguistic versions or pay-on-demand services with local-language user-interfaces to increase viewership and subscriber numbers.

• At the end of 2017, one third of all AVMS established in the EU28 existed as localised versions, representing a substantial weight in the overall audiovisual market. The UK, the Czech Republic and France accounted for 61% of the localised TV channels while 53% of localised pay-on-demand services were based in the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden. Nearly half of all localised TV channels and over one quarter of localised pay-on-demand services were established in the UK.

• Genre concentration was generally higher among localised services than among AV media established in the EU28 as a whole. The most popular genres among localised TV channels were film and TV fiction/series (26%); documentary (16%); children (15%); sport (15); entertainment (10%) and lifestyle/leisure/health/travel (8%). Localised pay-on-demand services were dominated by the two genres film and TV fiction/series, and generalist, with a combined aggregated share of 94%.

• Two thirds of EU-based service providers of localised TV channels and localised pay-on-demand services belonged to a US parent company.

TV channels and on-demand services targeting other national markets: the report describes the impact that services specifically targeting other countries have on national licensing regimes. Typically, these tend to be delivered by a number of hubs from which broadcasters and on-demand service providers circulate these services to the respective target countries.

• Around one third of all TV channels (31%) and pay-on-demand services (34%) established in the EU28 by 2017 were specifically targeting foreign markets.

• The establishment of services targeting other markets has a significant effect on national licensing regimes as they tend to be regionally concentrated and can notably expand the overall number of services based in a country. The cumulated numbers of pay-on-demand services based in the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland accounted for 67% of all services targeting foreign markets, while linear services in the UK, the Czech Republic and France together comprised 69% of all such services targeting foreign markets. The UK was the biggest contributor to the overall pan-European supply of targeting audiovisual services in the EU28.

• Localised versions of AV services form an essential portion of the number of services targeting foreign markets. As many as 79% of pay-on-demand services and 73% of TV channels targeting other countries are localised versions.

• A typical target country tended in 2017 to fall into one of the following two categories: a) clusters of AV markets in regions marked by cultural proximities (Nordic, Baltic, Central European countries and countries that share a joint language with countries where targeted services are based); and b) larger national AV markets (e.g. Poland, France, Germany).

Broadcasting languages in Europe: The report highlights the consumer perspective, concentrating on the various broadcasting languages of TV channels available to viewers in their home countries in a reflection of the language diversity in European markets.

• A total of 61 different languages were being broadcast across the EU28 at the end of 2017.

• In the EU, people had access to TV channels in 19 different broadcasting languages on average. France  was  the  most  diverse  market  with  35  different  broadcasting  languages available in the country. Other diverse EU markets in terms of broadcasting languages were Sweden (27), Germany (26), Poland (24), Slovenia (23), the UK (23), Denmark (22), and Estonia and Slovakia (20 each). Switzerland (25), Norway (20), and Turkey (20) also offered a significant number of different TV broadcasting languages.

• Pay-on-demand  offers  were  fewer  in  number  and  more  localised  than  TV  channel  offers.  In the EU28 at least 60% of pay-on-demand services available in each market were versions with a local language user-interface.

• The largest bouquets of TV channels available in the main official language of the country were available to people living in EU countries such as the UK (456), Germany (345) and France (329). People living in Russia (522) and Turkey (346) also enjoyed broad offers of TV channels available in the main official language of the country. People living in France (83), the UK (65), Poland (46) and Germany (43) had access to the highest number of pay-on-demand services with user-interfaces in the main official languages of these countries.

Audiovisual Media in Europe: Localised, Targeting and Language Offers (Full report EN only, summary FR and DE)

Source: European Audiovisual Observatory Website