French TV exports rocket to $400m

Sales of period drama Versailles boosted French content exports

French television exports rose by a third in 2016, to reach a record €336.3m (US$405.5m), led by drama series such as Versailles and animated shows like Zorro: The Chronicles.

According to the French Television Programme Exports 2016 report, exports including sales, presales and coproduction investment rose by 31.9% from 2015 to 2016, representing a 64% increase over the last decade.

Additionally, sales of French programmes grew 15.2% from 2015, rising nine percentage points to reach another record total of €189.1m.

Overall growth was helped in no small part by the 93.6% growth in presales, which almost doubled in total from €36.8m to €71.2m, and a 40.5% increase in coproduction and investments from €54.1m to €76.0m.

Individual programme sales growth was largely driven by success in animation and fiction, the report notes, with the former growing its sales abroad by a half from €50.6m to €75m.

In total, animation accounted for 40% of international sales. Cyber Group Studios’ Zorro: The Chronicles (26×22’), which was a big seller last year too, was exported to numerous territories including Germany, other parts of Europe and Asia.

Fiction sales were up by a fifth from €41.2m €49.8m, with the report noting that western Europe remained the leading export region for the genre, accounting for 66.9% of sales.

The genre’s share of total exports was up 1.2 points in 2016 (26.3%). Mon Voisin Productions’ dramedy Call my Agent (6×52’) was sold round the world, with prestige period drama Versailles (10×60’), a coproduction by Capa Drama, Zodiak Fiction and Incendo Productions, also selling well.

Elsewhere, the report, put together by TV France International and Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image Animée, revealed that despite traditional broadcasters being the prominent buyers of French programming, new media revenue accounted for 22% of export revenues – double the percentage in 2015 (11.3%).

Driving this market were VoD platforms doubling their foreign revenue to 20.4%. The report noted that these platforms are increasingly interested in French content, making them a strong competitor for pay TV.

“Video-on-demand platforms are becoming increasingly important clients for French programmes, especially animation,” the report states. “In this sector, sales to these platforms can add up to between one- and two-thirds of annual export revenue for certain companies.”

Hervé Michel, president of TV France International, said he was pleased his organisation was a key player “amidst severe international competition.”