Advanced Television

Imported movies make $4bn for European broadcasters

July 18, 2012

The value created by imported feature films for European broadcasters was $4.318 billion in 2011 for 18,600 titles across 119 channels (nearly all of which are free-to-air) over the 21 territories covered in a new report. The Imported Feature Films on European TV report stated that the 2011 figure has not changed much over the last few years despite the recession and greater competition from new technologies.

Michael Cluff, co-author and director at Madigan Cluff, said: “There is a big variation in the value generated between major markets. German channels contributed nearly a quarter of the total value in 2011, followed by Italy and the UK. Together these three countries accounted for 52 per cent of the total.”

Cluff continued: “A great deal of the difference in performance between countries is the regularity of slotting major films. For instance, Germany’s Pro7 had 303 hours and Sat 1 had 281 hours of films in primetime in 2011, which generated €176 million. In contrast, France’s TF1 had just 67 hours of imported films in primetime and M6 52 hours creating a total value of €52 million.”

Jonathan Bailey, co-author and managing director at ETS, added: “The total number of imported feature film hours in Europe hovers just below 100,000 each year. Germany was the leader again in 2011, followed by the UK and Russia. However, France and the Netherlands are notable absentees from the list of top countries.”

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