27 FEB 2023

Europe: Global SVOD players are betting on Crime shows

Global SVOD platforms’ share of new Crime & Thriller commissions in Western Europe’s big five markets (the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) has increased nearly 10% over the last three years, according to Ampere Analysis.

27 FEB 2023
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"Money Heist" (Netflix)

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Global SVOD platforms’ share of new Crime & Thriller commissions in Western Europe’s big five markets (the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) has increased nearly 10% over the last three years, with market share mainly gained at the expense of leading European broadcasters, Ampere Analysis noted in its latest report.

According to the study, Crime & Thriller titles are central to television and film commissions in Western Europe, accounting for around one third of all scripted content commissioned in the region in 2022, well above the global average for the genre.

While European PSBs continue to dominate commissions in the genre – particularly through renewals of long-running series - global streaming platforms have gradually become more prominent players over recent years, led by SVOD platform Netflix. Paramount+ has also made a noteworthy move into the genre since its 2022 European rollout, with 12 of the 17 new scripted commissions announced by the platform during the year consisting of Crime & Thriller titles. This has driven the share of new titles commissioned by local players down from 65% in 2019 to 56% in 2022.

"A number of factors underpin the increased investment by global SVOD services in European Crime & Thriller content. New streamers expanding their geographic footprint, like Paramount+, need to attract local subscribers through local original content, and in Europe, consumers prefer the Crime & Thriller genre. Moreover, more established SVOD services in the region are aiming to expand their subscriber base in Western Europe by targeting new demographics, and older (45+) consumers are the most likely to prefer Crime & Thriller content,"  said Cyrine Amor, Analyst at Ampere Analysis and the author of the report.

In addition, Crime & Thriller is a highly exportable genre that travels easily across borders (for example, Netflix’s "Lupin" and "Money Heist," or Prime Video’s "The Boarding School") and thus appeals to the streamers’ subscribers outside the local market better than other more culturally-specific genres (such as comedy). Crime & Thriller titles in particular have taken advantage of the increased tolerance of subtitling or dubbing of international content in English-speaking markets like the United States meaning European Crime & Thriller commissions can help the major streamers both at home and abroad, the report concluded.