Spending on original content has increased faster than European audiovisual sector revenues, while at the same time sports rights spending is increasing sharply, the European Audiovisual Observatory revealed in its latest “Audiovisual services spending in original European content - a 2012-2022 analysis” report.
According to the study, global streamers’ spending increased sharply in 2022 and accounted for 24% of all spending on European original content. However, global streamer spending has not substituted broadcaster spending. On the contrary, broadcasters increased their spending, at least until the pandemic, faster than before the entry of the global streamers into the European market.
The EAO also noted that original content accounts for 35% of broadcaster spending, followed by sports rights and acquired programming, almost at par (28% and 26%, respectively). But sports rights are number one in terms of content spending for private broadcasters, and they grew significantly faster than any other category of programming.
Meanwhile, the “Audiovisual services spending in original European content - a 2012-2022 analysis” report revealed that the share of scripted programming (excluding news) in streamers’ spending on original content has slightly decreased over time, but scripted programming still accounts for the lion’s share (83%).
Regarding territories, the UK and Spain accounted together for 37% of global streamers’ spending on original European content. The share of global streamers in original content spending is particularly high in Spain (over 50%) and, to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark, and Sweden.