Close to half of European kids TV channels are US owned

Almost half of children’s TV channels in Europe belong to US companies, while six in 10 entertainment-focused SVOD services have a US parent, according to the latest report from the European Audiovisual Observatory.

Some 18% of all private TV channels excluding local TV are US-owned, 39% of all SVOD and 33% of TVOD services in Europe belong to a US company.

US-owned TV channels are almost exclusively thematic channels with a strong presence in documentary and children’s programming. Some 48% of all children’s TV channels in Europe are US-owned and so are 59% of entertainment subscription video-on-demand services, according to Audioviusual Media Services in Europe 2023.

The report found that wider Europe had a total of 12,664 audiovisual services, of which 9,349 are linear TV offerings and 3,315 are some variety of VOD service.

Some 28% of VOD services are SVOD and 12% are TVOD. Forty-three per cent of linear channels are regional and local services.

The greater part of the TV offering caters to special interests in the form of thematic channels (55%) whilst 45% of TV channels provide generalist programming. In contrast, three quarters of TVOD (73%) and almost half of all SVOD services (46%) in Europe offer film and TV fiction programming.

Half of the top 10 TV groups and eight out of the top 10 groups for on-demand services are of US origin.

The report also found that the share of linear services available in Europe primarily serving non-domestic markets (9%) has dramaticaly decreased since Brexit. The figure is higher for on-demand services at 18%.

The main establishment hubs for non-domestic TV channels are the Netherlands, Spain and Luxembourg. For on-demand services they are Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany.

About 8% of all linear services available in Europe are pay or free panEuropean satellite channels.