Download "Audiovisual fiction production in the European Union - 2020 edition" here

Just before next week's MIPTV,  the Strasbourg-based Observatory has released its latest figures on the production of TV and streaming fiction in Europe. The report is authored by Marta Jiménez Pumares, Analyst from the Department for Market Information.

Production of TV fiction

This new report finds that around 1,000 titles (we counted individual film titles and seasons of series as ‘one unit’) and 12,500 hours of audiovisual fiction were produced in the European Union in 2019. 

• The percentage of series with 2-13 episodes increased, while the number of TV films decreased. 

• About half the seasons are returning series.

• When considering the TV series with 2-13 episodes, the United Kingdom, Germany and France are the largest producers in terms of the number of titles. And Germany is by far the largest producer of TV films.

• Private broadcasters lead the production of TV fiction, all formats considered, as they tend, on average, to favour longer-running soaps and telenovelas. Public broadcasters, in turn, produced more 2-13 episode TV series.

The COVID-19 crisis is producing unprecedented challenges for the audiovisual sector. In response to this, governments and industry bodies are bringing in measures to support the various industries and their professionals through this period. The Observatory is tracking these measures in 41 different countries as well as pan-European initiatives.  A daily up-dated data tracker is freely available from the Observatory’s website from this page.

The Strasbourg-based information clearing house is making use of its unique information network throughout Europe to collect raw data on audiovisual sector-specific measures in real time. The Observatory team transforms the data into a sortable tracking tool, up-dated on a daily basis. The various measures being tracked range from initiatives such as public support, regulation, industry agreements and policy declarations, for example. More general, overarching measures concerning fields such as employment are also being tracked as they are particularly applied to the audiovisual sector. The Observatory’s online tracker takes the form of a downloadable EXCEL table which allows the user to sort the information by country, organisation creating the measure or type of initiative, for example.

Executive Director Susanne Nikoltchev said of the project: “We hope our real time tracking of these support measures will help the European audiovisual industry and especially its SMEs and free-lance workers to get through this COVID-19 crisis. Providing the European overview and helping the audiovisual sector are the Observatory’s reason d’être so it was clear that we were going to support the European audiovisual industries and its professional by providing this information.” She added that she was extremely grateful to the Observatory’s Advisory Committee and networks for their support in helping to gather this information.

For further information about our COVID-19 tracking project or indeed to signal any support measures to us, contact [email protected]