#Karlovy Vary Dissects EU Media Consumers: From Cinema’s Decline and “Rapid” Streaming Growth to the Appeal of U.S. Content

What do audiences want, like and watch? That is a question that producers, studios, networks, streamers, stars and others constantly have on their minds.

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s Eastern Promises industry program tried to provide answers on Monday in a session about a recently published European Media Industry Outlook report, presented in the Czech spa town by the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union. The results of the multi-country consumer survey and analysis of streaming and other consumption data in the 27 European Union countries was carried out over the past year to give a comprehensive market overview.

One takeaway: Cinema has been losing ground, as it hasn’t bounced back to pre-COVID pandemic box office levels, while streamers have gained, and traditional TV is roughly steady.

After an introduction by European Parliament member Martina Dlabajová, Martin Dawson, deputy head of unit of audiovisual industry and media support programs, DG CNECT, at the European Commission, shared some of the study’s key insights with the Karlovy Vary Industry Days audience. Because his schedule didn’t allow him to travel to the fest, he gave a virtual presentation, followed by a Q&A session.

The expert started off with some basic data. The audiovisual media sector, including movies and TV, is estimated at 91.4 billion euros ($99.8 billion), video games at 23.5 billion ($25.7 billion) and news media at 19.8 billion ($21.6 billion). “Video games experience the fastest growth, the audiovisual sector gradually recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, and parts of news media are shrinking,” the EU report summarizes.

Overall revenue in the audiovisual industries rose 8 percent in 2021, but the trends within the space differ. Broadcasting accounted for 83.7 percent of revenue in 2021 and has been “stable” in recent years since 2017, streaming accounted for 12.8 percent of 2021 revenue (up from 4 percent in 2017), experiencing “rapid growth,” while cinema accounted for 2.5 percent (down from 7 percent in 2017), Dawson noted. That puts cinema revenue at around 2.29 billion euros ($2.50 billion).

“Cinema has seen a downward trend,” the expert highlighted. “TV is the preferred media for films and series and is among the most trusted sources of information” across the EU, he also said. For example, 71 percent of respondents said they watch films or series on linear TV at least once a month. But more than 40 percent of streaming users said they plan on using streaming more over the coming year.

When it comes to going to the cinema, 6 percent of people said they expect to do so “much more often” in the coming year, while 8 percent said they would do so “much less often.” And 21 percent predicted they would go to the cinema “a little more often,” compared to 15 percent planning to go “a little less often.” Concluded Dawson: “So you do some basic arithmetic and you see what I said at the beginning that (streaming) is on the upward trend, whereas TV is stable, and cinema, depending country to country, is either stable or on a downward trend.”

What type of programming do EU consumers love? The three most popular content genres are crime/mystery/thriller, action and comedy, followed by sci-fi fantasy and drama, the expert noted.

“Tastes are open to content from all origins,” highlighted Dawson, mentioning that U.S. content is most appealing with 45 percent of people surveyed mentioning it, followed by domestic programming (44 percent) and “other European” content (28 percent).

The U.S. dominance is fairly pronounced in the streaming space. The EU report found that U.S. works represented 47 percent of overall content available and drew 59 percent of viewing time. National titles accounted for 14 percent of available titles and 9 percent of consumption time. U.K. content scored 9 percent in each metric, and “other EU works” constituted 14 percent of titles available while drawing 9 percent of viewing time.

Three U.S. streamers also capture 71 percent of streaming subscriptions. Dawson didn’t name names, but during another part of his presentation cited Amazon, Disney+ and Netflix as key sector giants.

Amid the streaming wars and broad variety of media and entertainment options on offer these days, there is much competition not only for consumers’ money, but particularly time. “Attention has become a rare resource in the era of abundant content,” Dawson said. “The question is, how do you grab the attention and keep the attention of users as they increasingly shift online.”