American fiction is still overwhelmingly dominant on European television screens but is on the decline. This is one of the many trends highlighted in Volume 2 of the European Audiovisual Observatory’s Yearbook “Trends in European television”, which has just been published.
The proportion of European fiction is increasing
The origin of fiction programmes (TV series, TV films,
feature films, short films, animated films) broadcast by 124 channels in 13
European countries has been analysed on behalf of the Observatory by the
company Infomedia. In 2007, these channels broadcast a total of 505,967 hours
of fiction.
The proportion of European fiction (all formats) was
39.1%, compared with 37.6% in 2006 and 36.1% in 2005. The total amount of
European fiction broadcast can be broken down into national fiction (14.7%),
non-national European fiction (10.4%), inter-European co-productions (4.3%) and
European co-productions with third countries. There was a significant increase
in the share of national fiction (15.5% against 14% in 2006), to the detriment
of non-national European fiction (10.1% against 10.9% in 2006). The share held
by inter-European co-productions was stable (4.4% against 4.5% in 2006), while
that of European co-productions with third countries grew significantly (9.1%
against 8.1% in 2006). The proportion of non-European programmes in schedules
(all genres combined) declined to 60.9% (compared with 62.4% in 2006 and 63.9%
in 2005).
Public channels
Although there are more public channels than others in
the sample, they offer the least amount of fiction. Whereas 42.8% of their
fiction programmes were of non-European origin in 2005, this proportion fell to
40.2% in 2006 and 39.7% in 2007. The proportion of national fiction broadcast
by public service channels continued to decline slightly: it was 25.1% in 2005,
24.2% in 2006 and 23.5% in 2007.
Private channels
The private channels financed by advertising broadcast
significantly more non-European fiction, but this proportion continued to
decline (76.7% compared with 77.1% in 2006 and 79.2% in 2005). These channels
also broadcast the least amount of national fiction but increased their
broadcasts of this type of programme (8% in 2007 compared with 7.3% in 2006 and
8.2% in 2005). The commercial channels financed by advertising are still those
that broadcast the least European non-national fiction (15.4% in 2007 compared
with 15.6% in 2006 and 12.6% in 2005).
Film pay-TV channels
The proportion of non-European fiction broadcast by film
pay-TV channels declined to 55.3% compared with 60.6% in 2005 and 60% in 2006.
The proportion of non-national European fiction programmes, which went up from
28.3% in 2005 to 30.2% in 2006 went down again slightly to 29.7%.
Special-interest channels
The proportion of non-European fiction works broadcast by
the special-interest channels (in the sample, these are mainly children’s
channels) declined slightly (65.4% against 66.3% in 2005). The proportion of
non-national European fiction broadcast by these channels has continued to rise
(14.5% in 2005, 16.4% in 2006, 18.3% in 2007) and has now for the first time
overtaken the proportion of national fiction, which is declining (17.3% in
2006, 16.3% in 2007).
There are, however, considerable differences regarding
the origin of fiction works, depending on their format. The proportion of
European television films went up from 44.3% in 2006 to 47.2% in 2007. The
proportion of European series rose from 34.3% to 35.4%. The proportion of
animated films increased from 35.6% to 42.4%. By contrast, the proportion of
European films went up from 40.7% to 42.5% and that of short films from 56.9%
to 70.6%.
Both feature-length and short films circulate better in
than the other formats
The circulation of European works outside their national
markets has continued to improve. The number of hours of non-national European
programmes (including co-productions) accounted for 23.7% of the fiction
broadcast in 2007. This proportion was 23.6% compared with 23.4% in 2006.
European co-productions (including co-productions with third countries) had a
significant share of this circulation as they accounted for 13.4% of those
available, whereas imported 100%-national fiction only accounted for 10.4%.
A significant proportion of co-productions consisted of
animated and feature-length films, with co-productions in these two formats
accounting for 23.2% and 21.7% respectively of the films available. The
proportion of European co-produced series and soap operas was not very high
(3.5% of the programmes available in this segment). Conversely, short films
and, to a lesser extent, European television films were still the national
formats with a significant circulation: the proportion of imported European
works accounted for 33.1% and 15.1% of those available respectively.
American programmes still make up the majority in the
case of series and soap operas (59.5% of those available) and films (55.7%).
They also dominate the television film and animated film segments (49.3% and
45.4% respectively). Third countries other than the
States
the fields of short films (13.1%) and animated films (12.5%).
The proportions also vary considerably according to the
countries examined. This is due to the different levels of development in the
industry depending on the sector concerned, the extent of support policies or
the impact of legislation. In
for example, the proportion of hours of European programmes is much higher than
the average for the 15 countries, whatever the format. For all formats, it was
56.5% of the fiction works broadcast in 2007.
In 2007, the proportion of European fiction broadcast by
the channels of three countries was between 40 and 50%:
(49.7%),
(44.3%) and the
(43.9%). In 9 countries it was between 30 and 40%. The channels of three
countries broadcast less than 30%:
(29.3%),
(19%) and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (0.5%).
The channels of the big countries are evidently those in
a position to provide large volumes of national works (France 28.2%, United
Kingdom 19.4%, Spain 18.3%, Italy 14.9%, Germany 13.4%). On the other hand, the
small countries usually have better proportions of non-national European works
(including co-productions): 41.6% in
41% in
38.4% in
French Community, 33.4% in
and 32.2% in
Methodology
The above overview has been produced by the European
Audiovisual Observatory on the basis of detailed data gathered for 2005-2007 by
the company Infomedia on the origin of fiction programmes broadcast by 124
channels in 13 European countries:
the
The sample was compiled by the Observatory on the basis
of its significance for each country analysed: all the important public
channels and all the important channels funded by advertising are included. We
were forced to be selective with regard to film and special-interest channels
but have taken care to choose the most relevant channels in terms of their
market position.
Also published in the Yearbook are data relating to Spain
and Luxembourg for 2007 gathered by Infomedia and data limited to imported
fiction programmes – drawn up by the company ETS for 26 channels in 5 other
European countries (Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal).