By Stuart Thomson
French films are becoming more prominent in global SVOD catalogues according to a report by Unifrance.
The presence of French productions on VOD platforms has grown from 2.4 per cent in 2019 to 3.5 per cent in 2020 and 4.8 per cent in 2021, according to Unifrance.
The growth is due both to acquisitions by major platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and a move by local players towards acquiring more non-US originated content.
French movies take a 5.1 per cent share of global platforms’ catalogues, a group that importantly includes MUBI, compared with a 3.1 per cent share of regional and local platforms.
French films have a strong presence in European markets. The leading international market for French films on SVOD catalogues is Italy, where 7.5 per cent of movies on SVOD platforms are French, followed by Romania and Spain with 7. per cent.
The growth in French films’ presence takes the country’s output to third place in national cinema represented in VOD catalogues behind the US and India, according to the outfit.
However, French films still have some way to go in VOD to catch up on their presence in cinemas, where they represent 9.9 per cent of the global total of theatrically released movies.
France is followed in the VOD top five by the UK, with a 4.2 per cent share, and Japan, with 2.3 per cent.
The US remains the global leader by some distance, with 41.8 per cent, followed by India, with 8.4 per cent.
