French public bodies Arcom and CNC have drawn a positive conclusion from the effective enactment of the AVMSD Euro directive into French law since 2021.

Aiming to make SVoD platforms contribute to the financing of local content production, it has opened a new era for creation financing as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ invested a total of €866 million from 2021 to 2023. The breakdown shows they poured €703 million into TV creation and €163 million into cinema, while the total numbers include €624 million going to prefinancing, according to a report published by the two State services.

Since then, two new global players have entered the country in Apple TV+ and Crunchyroll.

TV regulator Arcom also highlights the “cooperation system” which has been developed between platforms and cinema distributors and between SVoD services and linear broadcasters.

The French transposition of the European rule has also created “diversified content, adapted for the international market,” suggests Olivier Henrard, interim president of the CNC.

During the period studied, the three main SVoDs worked with around 70 production companies, with a preference for indie companies – particualrly for movies. Regarding specifically TV series, the three services are mostly focusing on fiction (89 per cent) and on a limited number of commissions (46 in 2023) but their average investment is higher than what other French groups spend on each creation.

On the other side, the platforms’ investment into other similar genres is variable. They preferably prefinance documentary films (€26 million), whilst the animation sector is mainly concentrated on acquisition. Last year, the investments was even weaker than two years ago and were made by Netflix and Disney+ alone.

Arcom and CNC also looked at the duration SVoD services retain the rights, which appears to average around 72 months, with 36 of those exclusive. Eighty-one per cent of their expenditure are using the maximum length the law permits.

At the same time, the platforms are not acquiring worldwide rights as a matter of course currently, but European rights have grown 29 per cent between 2021 and 2023.

New remedies are being explored by both Arcom and CNC to enhance the system and make platforms enter into talks with producers to add new clauses to their agreements.