Guy Bisson, Executive Director & co-founder of Ampere Analysis, led one of the closing sessions where he presented an analysis of the current panorama of the television business, listing the things that companies in the content industry must take into account to ‘ to flourish’.
One of the first points he highlighted is that right now is a great time to be a great independent player’. Bisson commented that access to content from major studios in the US has ‘decreased’, as streaming platforms capitalize on content production. The executive mentioned that studio content decreased by 27% on linear TV in Europe in 2022, compared to September 2020.
‘This breach that happened is an opportunity for the big independent studios such as ITV Studios, BBC Studios, ZDF Studios, Movistar Plus or Blumhouse’, he underlined. And also referred to AVOD and FAST, arguing that both transmission models are ‘hitting a wall in Europe’. ‘The growth that both models have had in the USA from the third quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2021 (34%) is remarkable. But outside of this market, both streaming service models have to work on their traction’. Bisson reported that in Europe AVOD increased 1% in the third quarter of 2020 and 4% a year later.
The reason for this slow growth in the European market, according to the executive, is that national broadcasters dominate the ad-supported streaming market. ‘These players saw their market share go from 39% in 2020 to 43% in 2021’. He also explained that the free model based on advertising is present in services with hybrid offers or aggregation with Pay TV operating companies.
Another of the strengths in this market, Bisson said, is that non-American content, films or series, is growing ‘significantly’. ‘We see that the percentage of foreign (non-American) series in the top 5 European markets was 25.8% in the third quarter of 2019 and 32.5% in the same period of 20210’, he added. He also said that movies with subtitles increased from 29.9% to 36.3% during the same period. ‘The streams from the USA in Europe have increased their local commitment, and today it represents more than half of their catalogue’.
Ampere expressed that the momentum strategies of a platform have changed in this market. ‘The second season premiere of The Mandalorian on Disney Plus only boosted subscriptions to the service to a small extent. While the release of Squid Game on Netflix saw sign-up rates lower than expected. It was only after its second week and success in the US that the platform saw an increase.
Lastly, the exec mentioned that the focus on a product is changing, and ‘emphasis is no longer on star actors, but on star creators’. ‘The Star System studio prioritizes those creators with storytelling skills, rather than focusing on talent in front of the camera’. Bisson added that this strategy is being used in several markets to promote a title and with it a platform or service, as in the case of Luca Guadagnino or Paolo Sorrentino.
