€5bn hit for French film and AV sectors
July 3, 2020
From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris
The French Film and audiovisual sectors (TV, radio, video) have suffered a €4.9 billion drop in activity during the Covid-19 crisis, which represents 20 per cent of their global 2020 turnover.
The figures released by French ministry of Culture, working on the hypothesis that there won’t be a second lockdown, forecasts that the Covid-19 impact across the whole cultural sectors in the study will lead to a 25 per cent decrease on 2020 revenues compared to 2019 (€22.3 billion), with a 36 per cent peak for live shows and the heritage sectors.
The backlash is expected to be less harsh for the audiovisual and movie sectors as they would lose 20 per cent of their 2020 activity to € 19.4 billion instead of the €24.5 billion revenues initially expected.
The distribution and movie theatre activities will be the most impacted as cinemas closed their doors on March 15th (to June 22nd). The decrease is expected to amount to 46 per cent and €1.6 billion revenues to € 3.48 billion. According to the study, the decrease will reach 27 per cent next September and 5 per cent in December.
The film and TV production sectors is set to face a 18 per cent drop and a €1.14 billion revenue loss. The activity is expected to be even with that of last year as of August.