Research: Netflix leads European scripted content
July 1, 2021
Research from Ampere Analysis shows that Netflix has become the largest single commissioner of new European scripted content. This represents one of the strongest indicators of the global changes in production market dynamics and represents a boon for European producers as the region becomes increasingly important for global streamers.
While European Public Service Broadcasters still remain major commissioners of new scripted content in Europe, Netflix leapt ahead during 2020, shooting past both the BBC and Germany’s ZDF in terms of number of commissions across Western and Central Europe. Its local approach to global scale means it will increasingly ascend to become the most important single commissioner at a regional level, suggests Ampere.
“As a marker of the wider changes in the entertainment industry, the ascent of Netflix to become the largest single commissioner of new European Scripted content is pivotal,” asserts Guy Bisson, Executive Director, Ampere Analysis. “To date, Europe’s major Public Service Broadcasters have driven the European content creation industry and local drama production. However, the ever-increasing importance of international markets to Netflix’s growth, its wide investment in locally relevant drama across the region, and the shift to pan-regional or global content as the basis for value means that today, global streamers like Netflix drive even local markets,” he notes.
“With the newer studio direct streaming platforms already beginning to emulate Netflix’s strategy of commissioning new Scripted content outside the US, there could not be a better time to be a European content creator,” he concludes.