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Back Over 1 000 TV fiction titles and seasons produced each year in Europe

Published 23/03/20

European Audiovisual Observatory publishes a new free report on the Production of TV fiction in Europe

Over 1 000 TV fiction titles and seasons produced each year in Europe

Download 'Audiovisual fiction production in the EU - 2019 edition' here

Just before the launch of the digital Series Mania online forum, the Observatory has released its latest figures on the production of TV and streaming fiction in Europe. The report, authored by Gilles Fontaine, Head of the Observatory’s Department for Market Information, has been supported by the Creative Europe programme.

NB:

The United Kingdom data is included in the report as the reference period is prior to the withdrawal.

Production of TV fiction

This new report finds that over 1 000 titles (we counted individual film titles and seasons of series as ‘one unit’) and about 13 000 hours of audiovisual fiction were produced in the European Union in 2018.

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

Number of AV fiction titles produced by format (2015-2018)

About half the seasons counted are returning series.

Share of 1st seasons among all series (average 2015-2018)

Share of 1st seasons among 2-13 episodes series (average 2015-2018)

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

Top 2-13 series producing countries (seasons, average 2015-2018 and 2018)

Source: European Audiovisual Observatory analysis of The European Metadata Group data

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.