Denmark

[DK] Developments in the Danish media business 2020-23

IRIS 2023-6:1/7

Terese Foged

Lassen Ricard, law firm

Every year the Danish Producers’ Association draws up a report on turnover, employment and export for various parts of the media business, based on figures from Statistics Denmark.

A new report from 22 May 2023 “Dansks Indholdsproducenter 2023” [Danish content producers 2023] analyses the state of things in 2021:

- For the second consecutive year, sales by the media business reached almost DKK 8.5 billion (EUR 1.1 billion). It is largely the gaming industry that drives this economic development with a turnover of more than DKK 3 billion (EUR 0.4 billion) in 2021.

- Danish exports were at their highest in 2021, with DKK 3.4 billion (EUR 0.46 billion), which is an increase of 14 per cent compared to 2020 and almost three times as much as in 2017. Again, it is especially the gaming industry that contributes to the growth, with exports for DKK 2.2 billion (EUR 0.30 billion), which means that digital games are generating two thirds of the Danish media industry’s total export revenue. However, the export by the TV producers especially is also increasing, with exports for over DKK 200 million (EUR 27 million) in 2021.

- In 2021, the Danish media business consisted of 1,141 enterprises producing films, TV content, advertising films, games and interactive works. Employment in the media business reached a total of almost 5,000 full-time positions.

In 2022 the Danish TV and film industry experienced a conflict, as big streaming services such as Netflix, Viaplay and TV 2 Play decided to end the development (“production stop”) of Danish content from the beginning of 2022 due to a rights agreement between Create Denmark (authors) and the Danish Producers’ Association, the terms of which were unacceptable to the streaming services. Instead, authors made agreements with the streaming services individually by the end of 2022.

In August 2022 a draft bill for an Act on Cultural Contribution was published, according to which providers of on-demand audiovisual media services must pay 6 % to the Danish state of their turnover in Denmark stemming from the on-demand services. The payment would be divided equally into two: A public-service pool and a pool for the Danish film funding. The bill was not passed due to an election that changed the political majority by the end of 2022. Since then it has been uncertain whether the levy will be enacted, including the levy percentage, and whether it might be part of a new media political agreement.

Over the first six months of 2023, the TV and film industry has unfortunately been standing rather still according to the Producers’ Association, primarily because everybody awaits a new media political agreement and a clarification as to a possible Danish Act on Cultural Contribution.