Cannes, May 18, 2023 – The European Commission has unveiled its first-ever European Media Industry Outlook, providing a comprehensive analysis of trends within the audiovisual, video game, and news media sectors. Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton presented the report during the European Film Forum, held at the Festival de Cannes.
The Media Industry Outlook report offers valuable market insights and identifies key challenges and underlying technological trends affecting the media landscape. Notably, it emphasizes the significant structural impact of the ongoing shift towards digital consumption, which has propelled growth in segments such as video on demand (VoD), mobile gaming, and immersive content.
The report underscores the strategic importance of intellectual property rights (IP) for media companies, highlighting how effectively managing and leveraging these assets can enhance revenue, facilitate investment, and preserve independence. It further emphasizes the crucial role of early adoption of innovative technologies and techniques, such as AI virtual production, to adapt to changing market dynamics, explore new avenues, and enhance competitiveness. Additionally, the report suggests that audience-driven strategies should form the foundation for successful business models.
Commissioner Thierry Breton stated, “The European Media Industry Outlook published today underlines how critical it is to sustain our efforts in helping European media enterprises digitalize. We have to position ourselves early enough on new technological segments to avoid others imposing standards we might not agree to. From immersive content to virtual production.”
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, added, “Our European action is delivering results – from building industrial coalitions to stimulating investments. We have to pursue our efforts to be more present in emerging media industry segments, to prepare for tomorrow’s business models, and to help the European industry go global. Audiences are at the center of the attention economy. In Europe, we have the audiences – our internal market of 450 million citizens. Now, we need strategies that will help us retain our financial independence and protect our cultural diversity.”
The European Media Industry Outlook is an integral part of the Media and Audiovisual Action Plan announced by the European Commission in December 2020. It aims to examine media trends and analyze their potential impact on EU media markets. The analysis draws upon market overviews, sector-specific studies, consumer surveys, and questionnaires to assess the competitiveness of the European media industry. Subsequent editions of the report are expected to follow.