Publication by the European Commission of the first European Media Industry Outlook

IRIS 2023-6:1/2

Eric Munch

European Audiovisual Observatory

On 18 May, the European Commission published a new report, the European Media Industry Outlook, as part of its Media and Audiovisual Action Plan, launched in December 2020. It was presented by Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market during the European Film Forum at the Festival de Cannes.

The report – the first of its kind – analyses trends in the audiovisual, video game and news media industries, provides market data and identifies challenges and underlying technological trends common to the media industries, with the aim of analysing their potential impact on the EU media market. Its data was gathered through consumer surveys, questionnaires, stakeholders input and secondary sources.

Speaking of the report, the Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager emphasised how critical it is to sustain efforts in helping European Media enterprises digitalise, before adding: “We have to position ourselves early enough on new technological segments. To avoid that others impose standards, we might not agree to. From immersive content to virtual production.”

The report notes that the ongoing shift in media consumption is driven by video on demand (VOD), mobile gaming and immersive content; with video on demand growing fast and recovering faster from the COVID-19 pandemic than other actors – broadcasting remaining stable and cinema recovering slowly. Revenues generated by video games, on the other hand, have been growing continuously, mostly driven by mobile gaming. Community-based games are crossing the boundary between game and platform in allowing the development of other activities, such as social interactions, concerts and shopping. Gaming is also a gateway to Extended Reality, a nascent market of which video games represent the largest part.

Usage of new devices and the development of digital platforms have led to changes in media consumption – gradually shifting online, bringing about new interrogations regarding monetisation for some actors and adding to the decrease of revenues of the printed press.

The European Commission will continue to monitor trends in the European media landscape and report on them in the European Media Industry Outlook’s next editions.


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This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.