French films becoming more prominent in SVOD catalogues

French films are becoming more prominent in global SVOD catalogues according to a report by Unifrance.

The presence of French productions on VOD platforms has grown from 2.4% in 2019 to 3.5% in 2020 and 4.8% in 2021, according to Unifrance.

The growth is due both to acquisitions by major platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and a move by local players towards acquiring more non-US originated content.

French movies take a 5.1% share of global platforms’ catalogues, a group that importantly includes MUBI, compared with a 3.1% share of regional and local platforms.

French films have a strong presence in European markets. The leading international market for French films on SVOD catalogues is Italy, where 7.5% of movies on SVOD platforms are French, followed by Romania and Spain with 7.4%.

The growth in French films’ presence takes the country’s output to third place in national cinema represented in VOD catalogues behind the US and India, according to the outfit.

However, French films still have some way to go in VOD to catch up on their presence in cinemas, where they represent 9.9% of the global total of theatrically released movies.

France is followed in the VOD top five by the UK, with a 4.2% share, and Japan, with 2.3%.

The US remains the global leader by some distance, with 41.8%, followed by India, with 8.4%.