Download "How are theatrical films distributed on TV and on VOD in the EU? 2024 figures"

This brand-new report: "How are theatrical films distributed on TV and VOD in the EU? 2024 figures" has just been published by the European Audiovisual Observatory, part of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, authored by senior VOD analyst Christian Grece.

The report provides an analysis of the availability of theatrical films released in cinemas in the European Union (EU27) in 2022 and then broadcast on linear TV and/or available on SVOD, TVOD and FOD catalogues in 17 EU countries in 2023 and 2024.

Key findings:

• The majority of theatrical films on release in 2022 were available in subsequent exploitation windows: The report demonstrates that theatrical release offers a virtual "guarantee" of subsequent exploitation in the audiovisual value chain: 84% of recent films released in EU27 cinemas in 2022 were available on TV and/or VOD services in 2023.
• When looking at the origin of theatrical films available, 95% of all US theatrical films on release in 2022 were available compared to 83% of European theatrical films. It should be noted that European films represented 66% of all theatrical films on release in EU27 in 2022 and US films 13%.
• Pay-VOD services are  the primary distribution window for theatrical films: SVOD and TVOD services are the primary drivers of this extended distribution, offering approximately 9 200 and 9 300 theatrical films in their catalogues on average per country—far exceeding linear TV (3 000 films) with less airtime to dedicate to films followed by  FOD services (1 400 films) which rely mostly on non-theatrical films produced by their parent broadcasting companies.
• VOD and linear TV services play a crucial and complementary role to theatrical distribution: More than half of all theatrical films in catalogues or broadcast in each EU country did not get a theatrical release in that country in 2022.
• Commercial success drives availability: Films released in 2022 that were available on TV in 2023 represented 92% of all cinema admissions. For SVOD, this figure reached 98%, and for TVOD, 96%.
• The majority of recent EU27 released ‘blockbusters’ (theatrical films with more than 500 000 admissions in 2022) were available on TVOD and SVOD in 2023: between 89% and 100% of EU27 blockbusters were available on TVOD and on SVOD services and 82% were broadcast on linear TV.