European Major Players Bulk Up but Face YouTube Challenge

What are some of the major issues currently faced by European powerhouses in the international market today? In a panel during the Creative Investors’ Conference at the San Sebastián Film Festival, leading figures within European production and distribution spoke about the need for a joint continental mindset, how the severe challenges facing the U.S. co-production market affected the euro landscape and the need to regulate platforms like YouTube in an increasingly digital market. 

CEO of global drama at Fremantle, Christian Vesper, said the British multinational has been “very good” at making “mainly small, disciplined European films.” Their main challenge now is to be more like the Fremantle’s Irish film studio Element Pictures, with the exec highlighting how impressive it is for a company to be behind films like Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia” and Harry Lighton’s “Pillion” within the same calendar year. “For our companies to thrive, we need to find this level of scale diversity.” 

Managing director at France’s Mediawan Pictures, Elisabeth d’Arvieu, praised the current European market, calling it “almost perfect.” “The U.S. co-production market has been almost closed for the last three years,” she said. “Now, in Europe, we have almost everything. We have a great pool of creative talents in all categories, fantastic locations, state-of-the-art technical teams and studio facilities.” 

All of that, d’Arvieu reiterated, is combined with two key European advantages in efficient tax incentives and subsidies and regulations that largely protect creators and independent producers. “All of that combined is working super efficiently. The proof of that is that it has allowed us major European powerhouses to emerge in front of the U.S. studios. Today, some of the biggest production companies are European.”

Chief distribution officer of Studio TF1, Rodolphe Buet, divided the main challenges into three categories: the instability in securing financing from traditional players such as linear television, which has historically supported European production and currently faces cost reductions across the continent; box office numbers that have not recovered since COVID; and what he calls the “U.S. situation,” referring to how independent distribution in the U.S. has been squeezed in recent years, decreasing the slots for the distribution of European arthouse films even further. 

One burning issue to emerge 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 its “main competitors.” “Because of the fragmentation of the landscape in terms of distribution, the audience has become very selective and knowledgeable. There is no more space for lukewarm content.” 

Buet called YouTube “one of the key threats” in Europe. “They are catching 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 cost of production of the creators. The reality is that they are supporting very few creators and are catching part of the traditional views that support the financing of TV and films in Europe. We have to find ways to regulate the system in Europe to make sure we will still support talent and creators to make great European television and films.”

The execs were asked about a statement released by the European Producers Club on Sunday, highlighting their concerns over proposals to replace Creative Europe, the European Union program that supports and promotes culture and media. According to the EPC, the proposed change raises “serious concerns for the future of independent European audiovisual creation.”

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

On the financing side, Vesper spoke about how “celebrities” and high-profile projects matter when securing early financing stakes, but, for Fremantle, it is about how to best support their production companies to make the films they want to make. The exec cited “Bugonia” as a recent example, saying that, alongside Element Pictures, Fremantle was able to greenlight the project before taking it to market. “It was us putting our weight behind a project. It’s a lot of work to get my board to support that. 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 Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut “The Chronology of Water,” Fremantle relocated the shoot from Oregon to Latvia, enabling the actor-turned-director to “make the film she wanted to make because it didn’t cost that much.”

“We do finance films. We prefer to go to the market with CAA or Film Nation and put equity investments where we need to,” he concluded.

Other ways to assist with revenue are, of course, to expand audience reach. On that, Buet mentioned Studio TF1’s recent deal with Netflix. Starting in summer 2026, all Netflix members in France will be able to watch TF1 channels and on-demand content from TF1+ directly on Netflix in a deal signed last June. 

“People are watching less television, and we are facing the competition of platforms,” Buet said. “When we look at the figures in France, 50% of the Netflix subscribers never watched TF1 Plus, mainly because the demographic is not similar. Being in a position to get a greater reach for the films and television we are financing is key. The more we strengthen the position of TF1 in access to audiences, the better it will be for the industry, the more we will contribute with the revenue we generate.”