European big players bulk, but are confronted with YouTube Challenge

What are some of the most important issues that are currently confronted by European powerhouses on the international market today? In a panel during the Creative Investors’ Conference on the San Sebastián Film Festival, leading figures within European production and distribution spoke about the need for a joint continental mindset, how the serious challenges for the American co-production market the Euro-Landschap in an always digital market.

CEO of Global Drama at Fremantle, Christian Vesper, said that the British multinational was ‘very good’ in making ‘mainly small, disciplined European films’. Their most important challenge is now to look more like the Irish film Studio Element Pictures of the Fremantle, where the Exec is emphasizing how impressive it is that a company like “Bugonia” by Yorgos Lanthimos and Harry Lightton’s “Pilion” is within the same calendar year. “For our companies to thrive, we must find this level of scaling diversity.”

Managing Director at France in Mediawan Pictures, Elisabeth d’Arvieu, praised the current European market and called it ‘almost perfect’. “The American co -production market has almost been closed for the past three years,” she said. “Now we have almost everything in Europe. We have a great pool of creative talents in all categories, fantastic locations, ultramodern technical teams and studio facilities.”

All this, repeated d’Arvieu, is combined with two important European benefits in efficient tax stimuli and subsidies and regulations that largely protect makers and independent producers. “All that combined works super efficiently.

Chief Distribution Officer of Studio TF1, Rodolphe Buet, divided the most important challenges into three categories: the instability in securing financing of traditional players such as linear television, who has historically supported European production and is currently confronted with cost reductions on the continent; Box Office numbers that have not been recovered since Covid; And what he calls the ‘American situation’, referring to how independent distribution in the US has been pressed in recent years, reducing the slots for the distribution of European arthouse films even further.

A burning problem that emerged from the conversation was the threat of YouTube as a growing player in Europe. David Atlan-Jackson, Chief Content Officer at Vuelta Group, portrayed the platform as one of the ‘most important competitors’. “Due to the fragmentation of the landscape in terms of distribution, the public has become very selective and expert. There is no more room for lukewarm content.”

Buet called YouTube “one of the most important threats” in Europe. “They catch a significant part of the audience without contributing to the global ecosystem. YouTube counts for more views than all platforms together [in Europe]But they tend to contribute [only] 50% of the production costs of the makers. The reality is that they support very few makers and are part of the traditional views that support TV and films in Europe. We must find ways to regulate the system in Europe to ensure that we will still support talent and makers to make great European television and films. “

The Execs were asked for a statement released by the European Producers Club on Sunday, which emphasizes their concern about proposals to replace creative Europe, the program of the European Union that supports and promotes culture and media. According to the EPC, the proposed change evokes “serious worries for the future of independent European audiovisual creation”.

“I’m not worried,” said Buet. “I think the European Commission understands how culture is the key to protecting and defending European values. There are some discussions about the independent European community about who should have access to the support. We have to work together instead of finding manners for some of us not to have access to the support of Creative Europe,” he added.

On the financing side, Vesper spoke about how ‘celebrities’ and high -profile projects matter in securing early financing interests, but for Fremantle it is about how they can best support their production companies to make the films they want to make. The Exec quoted “Bugonia” as a recent example and said that, in addition to element photos, Fremantle was able to illuminate the project too green before it brought it to the market. “We were the weight behind a project. It is a lot of work to let my plate support. But we have faith in them and we want to be able to create as much leverage as possible on a market.” In the case of the directorial debut of Kristen Stewart ‘The Chronology of Water’, Fremantle moved the shoot from Oregon to Latvia, so that the actor-turned director ‘could make the film she wanted to make because it did not cost that much’.

“We finance films. We’d rather go to the market with CAA or Film Nation and put stock investments where we should be needed,” he concluded.

Other ways to help with income are of course to expand the reach of the public. On about this, Buet mentioned the recent deal of Studio TF1 with Netflix. From the summer of 2026, all Netflix members in France can view TF1 channels and on-demand content of TF1+ directly on Netflix in a deal that was signed last June.

“People watch less television and we are confronted with the competition from platforms,” ​​said Buet. “Als we naar de cijfers in Frankrijk kijken, heeft 50% van de Netflix -abonnees nooit TF1 Plus bekeken, vooral omdat de demografie niet vergelijkbaar is. Zijn in een positie om een ​​​​groter bereik te krijgen voor de films en televisie die we financieren is, hoe meer we de positie van TF1 in toegang tot publiek versterken, hoe beter het zal zijn voor de industrie, hoe meer we zullen zijn, hoe meer we zullen zijn voor de industrie, hoe meer we zullen zijn voor de industrie, hoe meer We will be for industry, the more we will be for industry, the more we will be for the industry, the more we will be for the industry we will generate. “