The Unifrance Rendez-Vous 2026 in Le Havre enters its final phase today, following a busy Tuesday that placed the shifting economics of French television exports at the center of the market's discussions. The first full day of business sessions opened with the revelation that French audiovisual program sales reached €164.3 million in 2025, marking a 21.6% year-on-year decline and dropping to their lowest level since 2015.

The morning's presentations focused on structural industry changes rather than solely on falling sales. Unifrance President Gilles Pélisson emphasized the necessity of understanding the true value generated by French works as they circulate internationally across digital platforms. ‘Data is essential’, stated, pointing out that the industry lacks access to full exploitation metrics from major digital services. Linking the discussion to artificial intelligence, creative freedom, and intellectual property valuation, he added: ‘Without greater transparency allowing us to fully understand the value of our works, production will not be able to finance the inventive, independent and high-quality creation we all want to preserve’.

Figures presented by Cécile Lacoue, Director of Research and Forecasting at the CNC, indicated that the downturn affected nearly the entire value chain. International pre-sales fell 59.3% to €30.7 million, while overall sales, pre-sales, and foreign co-production contributions contracted by 28.1%. Multi-territory SVOD rights plunged 77.6% to €6.2 million, contrasting with AVOD revenues, which rose to €23.9 million. Despite the revenue drops, French productions backed by foreign financing totaled 1,432 hours, declining only 2.1% from the previous year. Speaking exclusively to Prensario, Lacoue explained that this gap reflects a shift in the production mix toward daily soaps over premium series with strong international potential. ‘Buyers have lower acquisition budgets, they want to take fewer risks, and decision-making processes are getting longer and longer’, she said. Regarding streaming platforms, she noted the change is structural: ‘They are still spending heavily on their own productions, but they are acquiring less. There is a shift from acquisitions toward commissioning’.

By genre, fiction remained the leading export at €54.9 million, despite a 27% decline. Documentaries held steady, falling just 2.7% to €43.1 million to secure second place, while animation dropped 30.3% to €32.2 million. However, a new Unifrance circulation study highlighted that French content remains the third most represented foreign nationality on linear television and the seventh on SVOD platforms globally, indicating that the programming circulates wider than the current revenue figures suggest. The practical consequences of these shifts were debated in a panel featuring Morgann Favennec of Mediatoon Distribution, Ulrich Lagriffoul of Mediawan Rights, and Julie Tolza of Seventine, who noted that the disappearance of large regional deals increasingly forces distributors to negotiate territory by territory and window by window. Tuesday's agenda was rounded out by screenings of Balanga's "Beasts of the Colosseum" and France tv distribution's "Swapped".

For today's agenda, the market floor and screening room at the Carré des Docks remain fully operational as international buyers negotiate their final agreements. The schedule features a midday screening of the fiction title "The Red and the Black", hosted by Wild Bunch Distribution at the Cinéma Pathé Docks Vauban. The day’s activities will culminate in an evening cocktail reception hosted by Hervé Morin, President of the Normandy Region, at the Abbaye de Montivilliers, serving as the final major networking event before the Rendez-Vous concludes its remaining business on Thursday morning.

If you want to receive our Daily Reports, please send an email to newsletter@prensario.info with your email and contact details