International Trade in Films and Audiovisual Programmes

Sources of Statistical Information

Available data concerning international trade in films and audiovisual programmes is of a highly heterogeneous nature. Not only do the methodologies used for observing the various transactions differ considerably, but, even when they are explicit, they also remain relatively vague with regard to their margins of error and to the actual significance of the published data.

This article is intended to give a summary of available sources, along with descriptions of the methodologies they use.

1. EUROPE

1.1. DE - GERMANY

Every year in September, the Bundesamt für Wirtschaft brings out a report entitled Übersicht über die Lizenzerlöse und Lizenzabgaben bei der Vergabe und dem Erwerb von Auswertungsrechten an Filmen im Jahre ...

This report is available on the Internet : http://www.bafa.de (for film statistics, click here).

The report is drawn up in compliance with a regulation (Außenwirtschaftsverordnung (AWV) in der Fassung vom 22. November (BGBl. I S. 1994) über Entgelte) intended to produce statistics on foreign trade for the payment of licences (Lizenzentgelte) for feature films.

The data include theatrical, video and TV exhibition rights for fiction films, children's films and films for young people, of a minimum duration of 45 minutes. The tables give export and import-related data (number of titles, financial data). Films that are imported to be subsequently re-exported (especially to Switzerland and Austria) are also included.

The data are gathered through questionnaires. For 1997, questionnaires were sent out to 913 companies and results based on 139 replies.

The report gives a number of tables on imports and exports and gives breakdowns for a number of items (types of rights, origin of imports, destination of exports, imports and secondary exports, etc.)

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1.2. FR - FRANCE

1.2.1. Corporate surveys (INSEE - CNC - SJTI)

A prime source of information is the annual report published by the CNC and the formerly SJTI, entitled Les entreprises de l’audiovisuel. The report is based on the corporate survey carried out by the INSEE.

The report can be obtained from the CNC (click here) or the DDM (click here)

CNC
SESDOC
3 Rue Boissière
75116 PARIS
FRANCE
http://www.cnc.fr/
Tel.: +33 1 44 34 36 34
Fax: +33 1 44 34 34 55

DDM
Département des statistiques, des études et de la documentation sur les médias
Hotel de Clermont
69 Rue de Varenne
75348 PARIS 07 SP
FRANCE
http://www.ddm.gouv.fr/
Tel.: +33 1 42 75 80 00

The INSEE annual corporate survey involves about 100,000 companies, including between 3,000 and 4,000 from the audiovisual sector (production companies, distributors, exhibitors, broadcasters, technical industries, etc.). It has been an important source of information since 1983 on the structure and activities of the sector and plays an important role in drawing up audiovisual "satellite-statistics accounts" (compte satellite de l'audiovisuel).

The larger companies are comprehensively covered by the survey, while small companies are covered to a much smaller extent. The survey is based on corporate accounts.

Since 1991, the CNC and the formerly SJTI have also been carrying out a supplementary survey to obtain more details on items such as illiquid production, sales, expenses, financing, indebtedness, etc. The survey involves some 300 – 400 of the biggest companies in the televisual broadcasting, production and distribution sectors and provides an important addition to the information given by the annual corporate report.

The CNC and the formerly SJTI also use the statistics to provide information on the various sub-sectors that make up the audiovisual sector.

Since 1997, the supplementary survey has been included within the main survey.

The survey provides the basis for an analysis of exports declared by companies from within the various parts of the audiovisual sector. These involve direct exports, especially the rental or sale of works abroad, the sale of foreign rights to theatrical works or to televisual stock programmes, the sale, concession or distribution of televisual or video works abroad, technical services for films or programmes provided for foreign companies.

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1.2.2. Foreign transactions carried out by companies in the audiovisual sector – Bank of France data

The Banque de France's Balance of Payments department provides tables giving information on foreign transactions carried out by companies in the audiovisual sector (radio and television broadcasting and the production and distribution of films and programmes). The audiovisual-related tables are published annually in the report on the services for the Commission des Comptes de Services. The report is made by the INSEE and the Balance of Payments department of the Banque de France and is published in INSEE Résultats every August.

INSEE
18 Boulevard Adolphe Pinard
75675 PARIS CEDEX 14
FRANCE
http://www.insee.fr/
Tel. : +33 1 41 17 50 50
Fax: +33 1 41 17 66 66

The data is also available in the publication Indicateurs statistiques de l’audiovisuel, La Documentation française, Paris, published in November-December yearly.

LA DOCUMENTATION FRANCAISE
Service commandes
124 rue Henri-Barbusse
93308 AUBERVILLIERS CEDEX
FRANCE
http://www.ladocfrancaise.gouv.fr
Tel. : +33 1  48  39  56  00
Fax: +33 1 40 15 68 00

Methodology

Balance of payment figures are drawn up by the Banque de France on the basis of reports made out each time there is a transaction involving accounts held by non-resident agents. They are sent in through the banks or, for the larger operators, given directly to the Banque de France.

Each report contains the SIREN number that identifies the resident company benefiting from or making a foreign payment as well as its sector of activity, according to the 1973 APE list and the more recent NAF list. The actual nature of the transaction is also specified through a precise codification, along with the currency used and the country where the payment was received from or sent to.

Tables have been drawn up on a regular basis since 1988 cross-referencing the types of transaction, the sectors to which the companies involved in the transactions belong and the countries of those companies making or receiving payments.

The transactions are classified as follows :

- standard transactions, broken down into :

• merchandise,
• services (including audiovisual programmes),
• revenue from factors (payment of dividends, revenue from stock,...),
• unilateral transfers (negligible in the audiovisual sector),
• direct French investments abroad,
• direct foreign investments in France.

These reports therefore provide a record of trade in merchandise, services and capital by companies within the audiovisual sector with other countries. The information thus provided, which involves a sector that remains little-known, does however have its limits, inasmuch as:

• some of the payments cannot be tied down to a particular sector
• the transaction is said to have taken place on the date it is recorded and not on the actual date it is carried out;
• the country-based presentation of the balance of payments can bring with it a certain imbalance (e.g. the French subsidiary of a foreign company is considered as a resident company, which means its foreign transactions are lumped together with French companies);
• only those investments that involve payment in France are recorded;
• there are sometimes difficulties in tying companies' activities down to a specific sector (the audiovisual business of certain large groups are included within the sector of the group's core business);
• the country-by-country statistics can be misleading (for example transactions involving American programmes are usually recorded as transactions with the British or Dutch subsidiaries of the US Majors;
• there are problems inherent to the audiovisual sector.

The classification of transactions can pose problems. Firstly, it is not always possible to tell the programmes produced for TV and the corporate programmes.

For the standard transactions, only the purchase and pre-purchase of rights, and the rentals are counted. Co-production contributions are supposed to be included within direct investments, but as television channels do not always separate pre-purchases and co-production contributions, it is not sure that this is strictly adhered to. Moreover, when a transaction involves a rights portfolio, it is not known where the corresponding payment is recorded in the accounts.

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1.2.3. Revenue from the export of French cinematographic works – data published by the CNC

Every year in May, the CNC (National Film Centre) publishes data relating to the export of French films and audiovisual programmes (for the year x-2).

CNC-Info can be obtained upon request from the following address:

CNC
3 Rue Boissière
75116 PARIS
FRANCE
http://www.cnc.fr
Tel.: +33 1 44 34 36 34
Fax: +33 1 44 34 34 55

The data related to revenue from the export of French cinematographic works deal with the whole export spectrum and include the sales of recent films as well as those of catalogue films, for theatrical exhibition, video and television.

Revenue from sales for theatrical exhibition is computed from receipts recorded by the companies, these usually being the guaranteed minimum or the set amount laid down in the sale contracts. The figures therefore do not provide an accurate reflection of the films' subsequent box-office performance.

A high level of receipts for a film for a country could also mean a successful sale to television and does not therefore provide an accurate picture of the film's box-office performance.

The figures therefore show the economic and financial return from exports for French companies. They do not show the film's box-office performance or indicate how well French films do in foreign markets. Figures for this can be found below in 1.2.4.

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1.2.4. French films in foreign cinema theatres and on foreign television (Surveys published by Unifrance)

Unifrance is the organisation that promotes French films abroad.

UNIFRANCE
4 Villa Bosquet
75007 PARIS
FRANCE
http://www.unifrance.org
Tel.: +33 1 47 53 95 80
Fax: +33 1 47 05 96 55

In January of every year, Unifrance publishes two surveys:

• French films in cinema-theatres abroad
• French films on foreign television.

Data relate to year x-2 and are based on box-office returns for French films in 31 countries. The survey covers the 22 countries of Western and Eastern Europe, North America, the three main markets of South America (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico) and the two prime markets for French film in Asia (Japan and Hong Kong) as well as South Africa and Australia, making 80% of the foreign cinema-theatre market for French films in all. The films considered in the survey are those given CNC approval. French co-productions released in countries sharing the same mother-tongue as the foreign co-producer are not included, except where French-speaking countries are involved. The figures are for box-office receipts and are not for export receipts.

The Unifrance survey initially monitored broadcasts of French films over 144 television channels in 23 countries throughout the world. In 1997, Unifrance extended its coverage to include 169 channels (including 134 unencoded channels) in 27 countries, representing some 90% of the television market. The organisation works through several partners (ETS, Double D) and its foreign bureaux.

Eurodata TV - Mediamétrie (http://www.eurodatatv.com/) gives audience figures for French films over all the European channels. The encoded-channel market is amply covered, with 35 encoded channels being monitored, including the main European channels, all the US channels and the main encoded channels in Australia, New-Zealand, Japan and South Africa.

Data is also brought out every two months on the box-office performance of the main French films abroad and can be accessed through Unifrance's web site http://www.unifrance.org/

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1.2.5. Audiovisual programme exports – The annual INA-TVFI-CNC survey

The INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel) has carried out a survey every year since 1992. The survey, entitled Les composantes internationales de la production française (The international components of French production), is made for the CNC, TVFI and the formerly SJTI.

It is available from the following address:

INA
Service des études
4 Avenue de l'Europe
94366 BRY SUR MARNE Cedex
FRANCE
http://www.ina.fr
Tel. : +33 1 49 83 20 00
Fax: +33 1 49 83 25 80

The publication is made up of two parts:

• international financing of French production,
• exports of French television programmes.

The survey of exports of French television programmes comes from another survey carried out with audiovisual production and distribution companies involved in export in the year under consideration. The report gives a summary of quantitative data on export revenue according to type and to country. The report also provides a specific analysis of export of sports recordings, exports by the TV channels and European and French financial backing for exports. The survey also considers opinions expressed in interviews.

As there is no obligatory side to the survey, the data are based on the correspondents' willingness to answer the INA's questions. The collaboration with TVFI, the organisation responsible for promoting French audiovisual programmes abroad, makes it easier to obtain data from the prime exporting companies. Although the results are not comprehensive, it can be said that they do not under-estimate the activity of the sector and that they provide a fair picture of how the activity is broken down according to type and country. The results have been cross-checked to make them as reliable as possible.

The survey published in 1997 (for 1996 data) handles the results from 78 companies : the larger companies are comprehensively covered by the survey, while small companies are covered to a much smaller extent.

The survey also supplies detailed data on export revenue according to geographical area, kinds of programme and types of exporter.

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1.2.6. Other sources

The network of audiovisual correspondents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains a network of audiovisual correspondents. In some countries, these correspondents publish letters and reports or use web sites to give a better understanding of developments within the audiovisual sector in these countries and the presence of French films and audiovisual programmes.

MINISTERE DES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES
Direction de l'action audiovisuelle extérieure
244 Boulevard Saint Germain
75003 PARIS 07 SP
FRANCE
Tel.: +33 1 43 17 93 23
Fax: +33 1 43 17 92 42

TV France International reports

TV France International was set up in 1994 to handle the promotion and sale of French television programmes. TVFI is an association that provides information and guidance for the international strategy of its 90 member companies, whose activities include programme production, broadcasting, distribution and finance.

TV France International brings out reports on potential markets for French audiovisual programmes. The reports are usually published in the trade magazine Ecran Total.

Contact:

TV FRANCE INTERNATIONAL
5 Rue Cernuschi
75017 PARIS
FRANCE
http://www.tvfrance-intl.com/
Tel.: +33 1 40 53 23 00
Fax: +33 1 40 53 23 01

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1.3. GB – UNITED KINGDOM

The Office for National Statistics annual report

In October of each year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) gives out a press release entitles Overseas transactions of the film and television industry (to the News release, click here).

ONS
Overseas Trade in Services Business Statistics
Government Buildings
Cardiff Road
NEWPORT South Wales NP9 IXG
ROYAUME-UNI
Tel.: +44 016 33 81 25 63
Fax: +44 016 33 81 21 21
http://www.ons.gov.uk/

1. The data come from a questionnaire sent out to film and television companies. Since 1997, the list of companies has been derived from the Interdepartmental Business Register (IDBR), which is more comprehensive than those used previously. As a result, the historical series has been adjusted. In 1997, 607 companies were approached and of these, 138 reported international transactions.

2. The statistics cover the value of transactions between the UK and residents in other countries in respect of the production of films of any width and recordings on tape or any other media. Performance in cinemas or on television is also covered. Performances in cinemas or on television include the outright sale or purchase of films as well as receipts or payments for rentals. Production of films includes international receipts or payments for film processing, printing, editing, etc., as well as amounts for work on location. The returns from film companies include their international transactions on behalf of another producer, distributor or agent in the UK.

3. The statistics include transactions by film and television companies for "other overseas services". These include items such as management fees, merchandising and agency fees. These services are included in the front page headline figures and the geographical details. They are separately identified in a table.

4. Not all of the international transactions of film and television companies that affect the UK Balance of Payments are included in these statistics. Excluded are the profits of UK subsidiaries and branches in the film industry attributable to the parent companies in other countries and those profits due to the UK from their subsidiaries and branches in other countries. These amounts are included under "investment income" in the Balance of Payments.

5. Amounts are shown against the geographical area to which they were paid or from which they were received irrespective of where they were first earned.

6. Receipts for production work in the UK comprised funds from abroad or from amounts held in the UK on behalf of residents in other countries, and sums applied to the repayment of loans raised in the UK. Amounts for film production, including location work abroad, remitted from the UK or from amounts held abroad on behalf of UK residents were included as debits (imports).

7. The figures reported by companies in this inquiry include some imports and exports of exposed feature film recorded in the overseas visible trade accounts. However, the trade account figures for exposed feature film include a number of elements not covered by this inquiry: items such as film flown in for processing and immediate return to the location abroad, and film imported and prints exported after processing by specialist film processing laboratories to the order of overseas customers. It is not possible to state the extent of the overlap, but the survey results probably include about half of the export figure in the overseas trade account and a higher proportion of the import figure. If these exports and imports covered by the trade accounts are excluded it is estimated that transactions by the film and television companies contributed a net deficit of GBP 122 million to the trade in services element of the Balance of Payments, compared to a net surplus of GBP 32 million in 1996.

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1.4. The EUROSTAT International Trade in Services survey

EUROSTAT, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, publishes a survey, entitled International Trade in Services , which presents the data in compliance with the fifth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5). The first edition of the survey covered the then 12 countries of the European Community, while the latest edition covers the 15 countries of the Europe Union of today (EUR 15).

The methodological introduction to the survey looks at the difficulties involved in examining the international service market. As they have no material aspect, international trade in services is much more difficult to analyse than trade in goods. Information is gathered through complex systems that bring together direct declarations made by companies, inquiries, information from banking transactions and estimations. Each Member State of the European Union has set up specific information gathering systems.

There are three kinds of problems involved in recording services:

1) conceptual problems, related to the actual definition of certain services.

For "audiovisual and related services", the following definition is used : "Audiovisual and related services cover those services - and related commissions – connected with cinematographic film production (films and video tapes), radio and television programmes (live or recorded) and music recordings. Included therein are rental rights received or paid, the fees received by the actors, the directors and producers, etc, residents, for productions made abroad (or by non-residents in the economy that draws up the accounts) as well as the fees involved in the distribution rights sold to the media for a limited number of performances in certain regions. The category also includes fees paid to actors, producers, etc., taking part in theatrical or musical productions, sports events, circus shows, etc., as well as fees for distribution rights (television, radio, etc.) related to these activities. Purchase and sale of films, programmes, recordings, compositions and music soundtracks are not included."

This definition could be workable if it did not find itself up against another category of service "Licence rights and fees", which is defined as follows : "The flows of payments and receipts between residents and non-residents and which are related to the legitimate use of intangible, non-financial, non-produced assets and ownership rights (such as patents, copyright, commercial brands, industrial manufacturing procedures, franchising, etc.) and the use, within the framework of licensing agreements, of original works or prototypes, such as manuscripts and films."

It can be seen straight away that part of the trade in audiovisual services could just as well come under the "Licensing rights and fees" heading, without it being possible to join it up with those transactions that belong only to the audiovisual sector or even the cultural industrysector.

2) problems of mixed transactions, in which the value of certain services is unknown as such, but which is incorporated into the value of other transactions

3) problems identifying gross flows (especially those related to compensation mechanisms)

EUROSTAT claims that a consequence of these problems is that the flows of services in the balance of payments are under-estimated.

The differences in methods used by the States can also lead to asymmetry (bilateral asymmetry when the net declared by an economic unit with regard to another does not tie in with the net declared by its partner, asymmetries in terms of geographical aggregation : for example, total credits within the European Union do not correspond to the world total. The "Audiovisual and related services" item of the European Union reveals a high level of asymmetry : in 1995, it came to ECU 957 million (the difference between the credit of ECU 1019 million and the debit of ECU 1976 million), thus clearly showing the methodological difficulties encountered.

For the aforementioned reasons, the data published by EUROSTAT concerning the balance of payments for audiovisual and related services of the European Union in all likelihood underestimates the number of transactions. They do, however indicate the upward trend of the EU / WORLD balance of payments deficit which rose from ECU 1.9 billion in 1992 to ECU 3.3 million in 1995, an increase of 71% in four years. The cover ratio fell from 55% in 1992 to 42% in 1995.

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2. Other regions of the world

2.1. North America

2.1.1. Data published by the AFMA (now IFTA)

The formerly AFMA (renamed IFTA on 1/7/2004, see: http://www.ifta-online.org/) is an association that was set up in 1980 to offer and provide different types of services – including market analysis services and statistics – to independent American producers and distributors. The AFMA has now begun to offer its services to non-American producers and its members currently include production companies from Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

The AFMA works alongside KPMG, to produce a yearly survey of its members' sales in markets outside the United States. The AFMA publishes country-by-country and market-by-market (cinema, television and video) data in February of every year. The report can be obtained in summary form from the association's web site (http://www.ifta-online.org/Publications/Default.aspx).

Contact:

William A. ANDERSON, V.P. Research and Publications
IFTA - Independent Film & Television Alliance
10850 Wilshire Boulevard 9th Floor
LOS ANGELES CA 90024-4321
USA
Tel: +1 310 446 1000
Fax: +1 310 446 1600
Email: info@ifta-online.org

The "AFMA data are very useful when it comes to understanding the development of American producers" and distributors' sales. However, the opening up of the AMFA to include non-American producers and distributors means a change in the significance of the figures. Non-American members are thought to contribute around 15% to total sales.

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2.1.2. MPAA data

The MPAA (http://www.mpaa.org) represents the American production and distribution majors (Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Universal Studios, Inc. and Warner Bros.). The MPA (formerly the MPEA) defends the international interests of these companies in foreign markets.

The MPAA brings out a yearly report on its members rentals in foreign markets, on a country-by-country basis and according to types of rights (theatrical, TV, pay-TV, home video, others).

The data thus gathered are considered by the MPAA as confidential and are not officially published. However, some data do manage to get published one way or another, in the trade press (Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Ecran Total, ...).

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2.1.3. Data published by Canada Statistics

Canada Statistics publishes a yearly release on the cinematographic and audiovisual production situation in Canada: http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/Francais/981201/q981201.pdf.

It also gives a summary of the results of the 1995-96 census of 591 cinematographic, video and audiovisual companies, as well as 226 motion picture laboratories and post-production companies in the Canadian film and video sector.

The release gives data on foreign sales, which consist of revenues received from foreign clients for current and previous years' productions, including license fees and royalties, outright sales and rentals, contracts, sponsors' payments and remittances from distributors after their expenses. Sales to foreign markets through Canadian distributors are not included in foreign sales. Location shootings in Canada by foreign film producers are not included in the enquiry.

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2.2. Asia and Oceania

2.2.1. Japan

The Ministry for the Postal Service and Telecommunications, which also holds the broadcasting portfolio, carried out a survey in 1996 on Japanese television-programme production companies. This survey contains, among other things, an assessment of foreign trade in audiovisual programmes.

The survey is available in summary form on the Ministry's web site, published Communications in Japan 1997.

2.2.2. Australia

The Australian Board of Statistics gives data in its publication International trade, Australia: FASTRACCS service and Balance of payments and international investment position, Australia, on the balance of payments in the cultural sector, that identify the import and export of three categories of cultural royalties: Cinema feature, TV programmes and video tapes.

These data are also published in Get the Picture, a twice-yearly publication of the Australian Film Commission.

Contact:

Rosemary CURTIS, Research Manager
AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION
Level 4, 150 William Street, Woolloomoodoo
2011 SYDNEY
AUSTRALIA
http://afc.gov.au
Tel.: +612 93 21 6444
Fax: +612 93 57 3719
r.curtis@afc.gov.au

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3. The assessment of the European Union / North America trade balance published by the European Audiovisual Observatory

The European Audiovisual Observatory publishes a yearly assessment of the European Union / North America trade balance with regard to audiovisual programmes. The assessment is based on data from a variety of national sources and appears in the Observatory's Yearbook.

The methodology of the assessment is far from perfect, inasmuch as the operations are carried out on the basis of imperfect, incomplete and heterogeneous data. We consider that the advantage of this assessment is that it shows a trend in trade that relies on data that are, in principle, drawn up every year by the same sources, using the same methodology each time.

The methodology used in drawing up the data relies on the following assumptions :

receipts obtained by North American companies in the European Union can be obtained by adding up receipts for members of the MPAA and those of the IFTA (formerly AFMA). However, the following points should be remembered :

as the MPAA data can only be accessed through secondary sources and are incomplete, certain estimations are necessary ;

the IFTA (formerly AFMA) data concern for the main part data for sales by American and Canadian companies, although they do include receipts for some companies from other parts of the world, notable Europe.

receipts for European companies in North America are largely based on British data as published by the NSO. It is obvious that, with regard to sales of audiovisual programmes in North America, British companies set the trend. European sales are assessed on the basis that British sales represent 80% of the yearly total.

the assessment of the trade is mainly based on receipts from stock programmes (mainly TV fiction and films). Receipts in Europe from direct investment by American broadcasters in European channels (Turner Broadcasting, MTV Networks, etc...) are not included in MPAA or IFTA (formerly AFMA) figures. Similarly, trade in rights for sports events and audiovisual activities related to the production of commercials or promotional films are not included in the assessment.

[Last partial update: 20/11/2006]