The Spanish government has pledged to continue supporting Spain’s audiovisual industry through its España Crece (Spain Grows) sovereign fund, marking a significant move from post-pandemic recovery funding into a longer-term industrial policy for the sector.
The announcement was made by Spain’s minister for digital transformation and public administration, Óscar López, at a panel called The New Script of the Audiovisual Industry: Diversity, Investment and Future, during this month’s San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Spain’s original Audiovisual Hub was backed by €1.603bn for 2021-2025. Its second phase, now managed through the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), will add €1.712bn and aims to scale and consolidate the sector.
Along with SETT, the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), Spain’s state-owned public credit institution, will also be key to driving audiovisual investment in “2027 and beyond,” said Lopez.
Lopez described the Spain Audiovisual Hub plan as the key to allowing the government to “design an unprecedented economic transformation”.
“Here we are, €1.6bn later, reaping the fruits and broadening horizons,” he added.
Along with SETT, the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), Spain’s state-owned public credit institution, will also be key to driving audiovisual investment in “2027 and beyond,” said Lopez.
Spanish boom
Speaking about a “sweet moment” for the Spanish film industry, Lopez cited record figures across production, employment and audience performance.
Spain is now the EU’s leading production market, with productions in the country growing by 31% (to 423) in 2025. Nine of the 11 most-watched series in Europe are Spanish, and employment in the sector has more than doubled from 30,900 workers in 2020 to more than 64,000 in 2025.
“No other sector has been able to double its employment in just five years,” said the minister.
He added the industry will soon benefit from €450m mobilised by SETT in investments in companies including Lazona, Good Films and Aurora Media, among others.
The first session of The New Audiovisual Script: Diversity, Investment And Future, was focused on the Spain Audiovisual Hub fund in action, with SETT audiovisual director María Coronado and executives from companies backed by the scheme, including Good Film Studios’ Miriam Segal, Andrés Sánchez’s Impulse Cinema and Ánima Kitchen’s José Carlos García.
Further sessions examined European audiovisual models, the economic impact of filming in Spain, and the role of broadcasters and TV groups, with speakers from RTVE, Atresmedia, Movistar and Mediaset.
SETT is also taking part in a further industry session at Tabakalera on Tuesday (September 22), aimed at analysing investment challenges and opportunities in Spain’s audiovisual sector. The programme includes a Creative Investors Conference panel, Investing To Grow: SETT And The Spanish Audiovisual Industry, with speakers including Coronado, Ibon Cormenzana of Casa Mundo Cero, José Manuel Pacheco of Aurora Media/Secuoya Content Group.
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