Notes on the method

Volume, structure and evolution of the audiovisual market

1. The video offers conveyed online are conventionally divided into four categories based on the exploitation methods.
   AVOD (Advertising Video On Demand) – Online video services financed wholly or mainly by advertising in video format (Video Display Advertising). These video services offer titles of different nature, genre and origin, in short, or long formats. Market leaders are YouTube (Alphabet / Google) and Facebook / Instagram (Meta)
   EST (Electronic Sell Through) – Online sale service of films or series by completing a single transaction for each title. Different from TVOD which is exclusively a rental service.
   SVOD (Subscription Video On Demand) – Online service that requires a monthly subscription fee to access an entire audiovisual library. Netflix is the market leader followed by Amazon and new entries, such as Disney.
   TVOD (Transactional Video on Demand) – Online rental service. The user makes a single transaction for each rented title.
2. The overall estimate of the audiovisual market revenues was determined on the basis of data supplied from different sources. Agcom data (for TV), Cinetel (for movie theaters), Univideo (for “physical” video, Univideo and eMedia estimates (for EST, TVOD and SVOD services), eMedia estimates, IAB, Nielsen, FCP AssoInternet (for Online Video Advertising).
3. At the end of August 2023 (first 8 months of the year), theatrical revenues stood at around €300m, not far from the pre-Covid 19 pandemic levels: for the same period the figures were €376m in 2019 and €334m in 2018. These data allow for a recovery estimate of the theatrical industry.
4. The estimate of pay VOD services (EST, TVOD, and SVOD) revenues is difficult to gather and should therefore be considered approximate. The estimate is based on evaluations shared by market operators and analysts. These assessments are also generated based on an overall estimate of the number of SVOD paying subscribers. Also, the nature of the video service provided by Amazon (Prime Video) is «hybrid» and thus difficult to define from the point of view of revenue estimates since part of the service (premium logistics) is offered free of charge to Amazon Prime subscribers and another part requires different modalities.

Active companies in audiovisual production

1. For the years 2017 – 2022, the data provided that comes from e-Media calculations on operators’ figures (company financial statements) is an estimate since by the end of August 2023 not all financial statements were available. The revenues of the companies included in the list also include revenues from activities not strictly linked to audiovisual productions.

Investment value in the production of original audiovisual content

1. Due to a reworking of market estimates and to the publication of detailed data on the production costs of single titles – previously unavailable and only estimable – the data hereby provided are not comparable for some years with those published in previous editions of the study.
2. Values processed by eMedia on MiC – DGCA data «Works Database» (updated to 07.26.2023)
3. The values relating to investments in the production of feature films in the Documentary and Animation genres are the result of MiC – DGCA data elaboration. The volume of titles and their solar year registration is carried out based on the year of their provisional Nationality and/or on the year of their funding (Tax Credit or others). For TV titles, when possible, the year of investment was the year indicated by the television operator. The same values could include production costs of titles generated in co-participation with foreign companies even with minority shares (less than 50%) by domestic operators. It was therefore not possible to analyze the ownership shares for all titles at the time of the completion of this research.

Tv & VOD series and movies production

1. Due to a reworking of market estimates and to the publication of detailed data on the production costs of individual titles – previously unavailable and only estimable – the data hereby provided are not comparable for some years with those published in previous editions of the study.
2. The values relating to investments in the production of feature films in the Documentary and Animation genres are the result of MiC – DGCA data elaboration. The volume of titles and their solar year registration is carried out based on the year of their provisional Nationality and/or on the year of their funding (Tax Credit or others). For TV titles, when possible, the year of investment was the year indicated by the television operator. The same values could include production costs of titles generated in co-participation with foreign companies even with minority shares (less than 50%) by domestic operators. It was therefore not possible to analyze the ownership shares for all titles at the time of the completion of this research.

Survey method & warning

This research was carried out between December 2022 and September 2023 as a development and update of similar researches on behalf of APA during the years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

The study was conducted also by consulting the operators in the sector who contributed with plenty information and figures to its implementation and to the elaboration of market estimates.

With the direct support of APA, a total of approximately 50 questionnaires were distributed to audiovisual production and distribution companies, and numerous interviews were carried out with representatives of these companies and with senior managers of television and Internet companies directly involved in audiovisual production activities and in the definition of their budgets.

Databases, numerous company documents, and other professional documentation (sector periodicals, research reports, etc.) were consulted. The documentation produced by the DGCA (General Directorate for Cinema and Audiovisual) of MIC was also very useful.

e-Media Srl has conducted field surveys and directly consulted numerous market players, documentation, and databases from different sources in order to analyze the entire audiovisual production sector also on a quantitative level (wealth volume).
By force of circumstances, not all figures ​​can be extracted from the companies’ financial statements which report the revenues and production value of individual companies but not specific data referring to the budgets for different genres. Many of the data reported are the result of estimates and calculations based on operators’ statements.
In consulting this document, it is important to bear in mind that many of the data reported are the result of estimates, even temporary, produced in the absence of information processed and/or published by official sources.

e-Media has carried out numerous checks on the data reported but cannot offer any guarantee on their accuracy and reliability.

Under no circumstances should those who consult this document make strategic or trading decisions, albeit partly, based on the data reported which are to be considered exclusively estimates and thus require further analysis and assessments.