PRESS RELEASE - MIP TV 2000

European Films on European Television

A report by the European Audiovisual Observatory

• Audiences success seem more related to scheduling than to box-office results.
• Trainspotting and Il Postino the most popular in Europe.

The report European Films on European Televisions, published by the European Audiovisual Observatory, analyses the broadcasting and audience figures for recent European films, including national productions). The report is the result of a commission by the European Audiovisual Observatory to Eurodata-TV and ETS, to identify the broadcasting and audience figures for all titles included in the top-300-ranking of European feature films in the EU markets between 1996 and 1998. The analysis covers 72 unencrypted TV channels in 15 European markets.

The context for the analysis of European films on European television is the total number of broadcasts of films per year. This number varies from 1,222 in France, where the number of broadcasts of films by unencrypted channels is restricted by regulations, to almost 13,000 in Germany. Unsurprisingly, analysis points to the dominant position of American films in scheduling. But the programming share of US films varies from 23,9% in France to 73,3% in Spain and 74,1% in the Netherlands (TV-films are also included in the latter figure).

National films get a larger slice of the cake in France (39,6%) and Italy (34,5%). The share of national films is evidently lower in smaller countries with a limited film production capacity (1,7 % in Netherlands, 5,8 % in Austria).

The share of non-national European films varies, from less than 9% and in the United Kingdom, to almost 30% for all German channels put together. Seen in absolute terms, intensive broadcasting of films results in more European films being broadcast: even in Spain, with its extremely high proportion of American films: 1,567 non-national European films were broadcast in Spain during the period under study, i.e. more than the total number of broadcasts of films in France during the same period.

Table: Number and Origin of Broadcasts of Feature Films by Unencrypted TV Channels (1998)

The originality of the report European Films on European Televisions lies in its focus on the recently produced European films. Among the 15 markets examined, three types of markets can be distinguished: The group of 'new-European-film-friendly` markets (French and Flemish Communities of Belgium, France, Germany and Italy), with 30 and more broadcasts each; the `new-European-films-unconcerned' group (consisting of the smaller countries Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland and Sweden) with less than 10 broadcasts in each country; and the third group with countries ranking in between the two others (Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Portugal).

Twenty out of the 72 channels analysed turned out not to have broadcast any of the recent European cinema sucesses. Of the list of 300 films, only 75 titles, with a total

of 257 broadcasts, were found to have been shown on television during the three years covered by the study. 65% of these broadcasts were on public service channels. Trainspotting and Il postino were the most popular films, with 12 broadcasts in 8 markets each. About half of the non-national European films broadcast were programmed in prime-time slots. However, this figure is tempered by the fact that virtually 60% of them were found on Belgian channels alone, which indicates a general absence of recent non-national European films from European television screens during prime-time.

Table: Ranking of Broadcasts of Recent European Films on Unencrypted TV Channels by Country (1996-1999)

Source: European Audiovisual Observatory

Cinema admissions and TV audience figures do not seem to be directly related for European films. Trainspotting, the box office hit of 1996, boosted the market share of the channels showing it, with Portugal's RTP2, the Flemish TV2 public service channel, Italia1, Kanal 5 in Sweden and Britain's Channel 4 all showing market shares above their annual averages. However, the relation between box office and broadcasting figures is highly tenuous: In Belgium and the United Kingdom the audience tripled, in Portugal and Spain it doubled, while in Sweden and Germany it was more or less the same and in Ireland it was under the cinema admission level, even though Trainspotting was broadcast in a prime-time-slot.

Television broadcasts confirm the low audience attraction of national comedies outside their own markets. Werner, das muss kesseln, the film with the second highest box-office figures in 1996, was broadcast on German television only. Les 3 frères, the film that came out third in the European box office rankings in 1996, was only successful on French television and in the French Community of Belgium. When broadcast on lunchtime television in Germany, its market share came out well under the channel's normal audience. Other comedies well placed in the box-office survey had no more success in getting broadcast outside their national markets than they did in getting shown in foreign cinemas. Most of the European films broadcast by private channels are national films.

Non-national European films are rarely given prime-time slots on European television (except on Belgian and French channels), and usually find themselves at the tail end of the viewing-time. This is why non-national productions suffer erratic results and often attract audiences under the channel's normal average, with the few exceptions of French films shown in the French-speaking Community of Belgium, British films in Ireland and a couple of European films on French channels. Another remarkable exception to this observation is the case of American co-productions (The English Patient, Bean, Tomorrow Never Dies), or those the public sees as American (Le cinquième élément, Two Much, ...), as internationally known actors are used.

The study emphasis the fact that the windows between theatrical release and broadcast by unencrypted channel is generally longer than those defined in theory. In most of the countries, the theoretical windows is two years, but the low number of broadcasts of recent films demonstrates that the actual window is of longer duration. A detailed study of the Austrian case shows that a majority of European films is broadcast only six years after their theatrical release, while the delay is only four years for American films.

To consult the report, click here.

André Lange, Expert for market information
European Audiovisual Observatory
76 Allée de la Robertsau
F - 67000 Strasbourg - France
Fax: +33 (0)3 90 21 60 19, E-mail: Andre.LANGE@coe.int