Global streamers’ share of spending in Europe has tripled over recent years but companies such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ still only accounted for 14% of commissioned fiction titles in 2024, according to a report unveiled at Series Mania.
The European Audiovisual Observatory’s (EAO) Key Trends 2026 report, now into its 11th edition, found that Europe’s audiovisual sector generated 142bn (£123bn) in 2024, with spending on streaming, pay TV and cinema accounting for just over 50% of the total.
The EAO said 24% of spending on European originals came from global streamers in 2024, up from just 8% in 2020.
Part of that growth was down to regulatory incentives such as the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), which enables European Union countries to insist on a percentage of spending on local programming.
But the report added that “increasing demand for local stories across global markets” had also driven the uptick.
Despite the surge, the overall number of TV fiction titles being produced in 2024 - the most recent year of data available - fell by 5% year on year, with episodes and hours also dipping.
The report added that 56% of fiction titles produced in Europe were commissioned by public service broadcasters, with 30% of greenlights coming from private broadcasters and just 14% from global streamers.
Co-productions accounted for 9% of all TV fiction titles produced in Europe, the EAO said, adding that around 100 shows are produced that way each, the vast majority being high-end TV and films.
The report also highlighted the power of series, with 78% of SVOD viewing time going to TV series versus 22% for films, and the EAO noted that “episodic storytelling” had become “the dominant format in the streaming economy.”
However, while SVOD services account for 60% of all pay-service subscriptions in 2024, the report said growth was being driven “more by tariff increases and/or the launch of advertising-supported tiers than by expansion of the subscriber base.”
The market is also dominated by US-based companies, with Europe representing just 12% of revenues from the global entertainment market’s leading players.
European film production, meanwhile, hit a record high in 2024 according to the EAO, with 2,523 features produced across 36 markets, driven by fiction and documentary output.
This article was first published by Screen’s sister title Broadcast
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