Pubcasters offering more European films than commercial players

Films produced in Europe made up 28% of films broadcast by a sample of TV channels during the 2015-16 season, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory.

The European 28% of films broadcast by a sample of 131 channels across 18 EU countries comprised 14% for films made in the territory of the channel and 14% of European non-national films, which the Observatory’s Films on TV: Origin, Age and Circulation report said indicated a significant circulation of European movies around different markets.

In general, public broadcaster channels broadcast more European films than commercial counterparts. Taking a full day on public television, European films accounted for 44% of all films broadcast. This figure falls to 24% for the commercial TV channels in the sample.

The number of European films aired in primetime fell to 23% across all channels, to 39% for public channels and 19% for commercial channels.

Of the 15,504 film titles broadcast during the 2015-16 season, 47% were produced in Europe and 47% in the US with the rest of the world making up 6%.

However, US films tended to be aired in more countries in the same year. The average US movie was broadcast in 3.1 countries, compared with 1.4 for European movies.

Some countries had more success in exporting movies than others, with the majority of the broadcasts of films produced in Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and the United Kingdom happened outside the country of production.

Of the 7 231 European films, 66% were accounted for by the top five production countries, and 87% by the top 10.