The audiovisual market grew by 1% in 2021 to 11.44 billion euros including tax (excluding the purchase of audiovisual equipment). A small increase compared to total household consumption expenditure which increased by 6.6% according to INSEE. The four major families of entertainment have different variations:
- household spending on cinema increased by 55.4% to 672 million euros;
- video saw its spending increase by 7.3% to almost 2 billion euros;
- television remained stable at 5.3 billion euros;
- video games posted a decline in spending to 3.4 billion euros (-7.3%).
395 euros per year per household
In 2021, the 29 million French households spent an average of 395 euros on audiovisual programs, i.e. a very small increase of 0.4% compared to 2020.
The expenditure hierarchy remains the same from year to year, despite the different behavior of the activities:
- spending on television represents an average of 185 euros per household, down 0.4% from one year to the next. Television is the leading item of household expenditure on audiovisual programs (46.9%), including 26.5% for subscriptions to pay channels (26.9% in 2020) and 20.4% for the contribution to public broadcasting (stable);
- those devoted to video games are 117 euros, also down 8%;
- video comes in third place with an annual budget of 69 euros (+6.6%). The share of video spending reached 17.4% (16.4% in 2020), including 15.3% for video on demand (13.8% in 2020) and 2.1% for physical video (2. 6% in 2020);
- finally, the cinema brings up the rear with 23 euros for the year, up 54.3%, due to the partial reopening of theaters following periods of confinement (138 days of closure in 2021). However, the level of cinema admissions remains much lower than its pre-crisis level (€1,448.7 million in 2019): in 2021, the number of cinema admissions stood at 95.5 million (+46, 3% compared to 2020) and the average price of a cinema ticket is €7.04 (+6.2%). Spending on theaters corresponds to an average of 3.3 admissions per household in 2021, compared to 2.3 admissions in 2020.
Pay-TV therefore remains by far the leading household expenditure item at 3 billion euros including tax, ie exactly twice the size of the SVOD market (1.53 billion euros including tax). It should be noted, however, that the dynamic is not the same, with SVOD showing growth of 12% compared to 2020, while Pay TV remains stable.
2022, the year of change
2022 promises to be a pivotal year with a recovery in cinema admissions which should reach 175 million admissions according to CNC estimates. The CNC also estimates that household spending on pay-TV should remain stable, in particular for Canal+ thanks to its acquisitions of sports rights (Champions League, F1, MotoGP), but also thanks to the strengthening of its position as a distributor of SVOD offers with the integration of Paramount+ in addition to those already included in its offers. On the other hand, the abolition of the fee from 2022 will cause a mechanical drop of 2.3 billion euros in household spending.
Even if it is chaotic, the VOD market (TVOD, EST and SVOD) should continue to grow, on the one hand under the effect of the recovery of theatrical releases (for VOD) and the arrival of new players for SVOD (Paramount+ at the end of the year).