There are over 12,700 audiovisual media services available in Europe. One in four of them is an on-demand service. Television channels still represent the majority of services available, with 9,434 available across Europe. Average television viewing time has remained remarkably consistent across Europe over the last 10 years, at 3.5 hours a day, plus or minus three minutes.
The European Audiovisual Observatory has published its Key Trends for 2025. The 10th edition was launched at a forum in Lille.
Nine out of ten of the most widespread television and video groups in Europe are ultimately based in the United States. Major brands like Warner Bros Discovery, Disney, Netflix, and Amazon have a significant presence across multiple European markets.
However, more than four out of ten television channels in Europe are regional or local services. These are particularly prevalent in countries like Italy, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands, which all offer more than 200 services.
Average television viewing time has started to decline slightly, following a recovery during the pandemic, but remains significant at an average of over 3.5 hours a day across Europe. It has remained remarkably consistent at that level, at plus or minus three minutes over the last 10 years. That varies by country, from less than two hours a day in Nordic countries to over five hours a day in Portugal.
The audience share of public service television also varies considerably across countries. It is over 40% in Germany and the United Kingdom but below 10% in Greece.
The report says that while subscription television services are stagnating, that is in comparison to the rapid development of online video subscription services, which one might have expected to have more impact. It suggests that so far these have not proved to be complete substitutes, partly because they are often bundled with subscription television services. It says it remains to be seen if the subscriber losses seen by television operators in the United States will eventually reach Europe.
While the traditional subscription television market has lost 10% of its traditional subscriber base over the past five years, it has grown overall to reach 146 million subscriptions across the European Union and to 192 million across the wider European area. The growth comes from services delivered online, but these deliver only about 40% of the average revenue per user compared to traditional platforms.
Overall, the coexistence of subscription television and online video services has led to a continuous increase in the share of consumer spending in the total revenues of the European audiovisual sector, compared to advertising and public funding of public service broadcasters.
The observatory provides a valuable source of data from across over 40 countries in the Europe region. Inevitably, much of the data is trailing, but it provides a rational response to the narrative that no-one is watching television anymore.