The association representing private channels and streamers in Europe is today holding its major event in Brussels, during which its Manifesto for the coming years will be presented. On this occasion, Grégoire Polad, ACT’s managing director, presents us with the sector’s current challenges, and its priorities in terms of regulation, the fight against piracy, and competition with Big Tech. How would you sum up the situation of the television sector in Europe today? According to figures from the Media Observatory, there are no fewer than 8300 channels and 3100 commercial video-on-demand services. In terms of direct revenues, the sector represents 76 billion direct euros, i.e. 43 billion for pay services, and 33 billion financed by advertising. AVOD and SVOD account for 31% of the current market. Despite the difficulties, the sector remains healthy, with annual growth of 4% since 2018. The linear market remains stable, and most of the growth is in SVOD and AVOD. On the linear front, however, there are significant local disparities. So while in some European national markets, shelf space is in slight decline, it remains very present in others, in Italy for example, or in some Central and Eastern European countries, as well as the Baltic states. What’s the state of investment in programs today? Despite the fact that we are in a very competitive market, subject to a great deal of change and upheaval, we continue to ensure that we offer consumers what they are interested in. As a result of this commitment, program investments are growing more than twice as fast as revenues. Industry players made massive investments during the health…
