The European audiovisual market was worth €130bn in 2022. The top two markets were Germany and the United Kingdom, respectively worth €25 billion and €24 billion, followed by France at €17 billion, Italy at €10 billion, and Spain at 7 billion. Despite rising revenues from online video subscriptions, the overall sector has declined in revenues in real terms.

These are among the many numbers provided in the European Audiovisual Observatory Yearbook of Key Trends.

The market grew by 5.6% in 2022, after an 8.5% increase in 2021. 60% of the growth arose from the continued boom of online video subscriptions. Given high inflation, there was a decline in sector revenues in real terms.

Among the top 100 audiovisual players operating in Europe, 60% of revenues in 2022 were banked by European-owned groups. However, the top 3 groups by revenue were from the United States. Ranked by revenue they were Comcast, which owns Sky, then Netflix, which has risen remarkably, followed by Walt Disney.

The next 4 places were held by RTL, ARD, BBC, and Canal Plus. Public broadcasters accounted for 27% of audiovisual group revenue among the top 100 services.

The top 10 places, which also included Canal Plus, Warner Bros Discovery, ITV, and ProDSiebenSat.1, accounted for over half of all revenues among the top 100 groups.

Within the top 20 groups, which account for 73% of revenues, 7 are based in the United States. They include Liberty Global, Paramount, and at number 20 there is Amazon.

Looking at the global top 50 audiovisual groups by revenue, 23 were based in the United States, with just 13 in Europe, 5 in Japan, and 9 in other countries.

The Yearbook 2023/2024: Key Trends is available from the European Audiovisual Observatory web site. The full online Yearbook is available by subscription.

www.obs.coe.int