Apple TV+ will struggle to meet European quotas for local content at launch
All streaming service providers entering Europe must include at least 30% locally-produced video by the end of 2020, and neither Apple TV+ nor Disney+ are currently close to that figure.
Tim Cook promotes Dickinson, one of the shows Apple TV+ is launching with in November
By the end of 2020, all streaming video services, including the new Apple TV+ and Disney+, will be required to have 30% of their entire catalogue locally produced. The requirement is part of a 2018 ruling by the European Parliament, and the existing Netflix and Amazon Prime services are almost at that figure.
According to Variety, Netflix and Amazon Prime together offer approximately 8,000 titles, and currently between 20% to 30% of those are European.
Based on estimates by London-based consultancy Ampere Analysis, Apple TV+ is expected to be launching in Europe with 38 titles, of which just 6.2% are European. Disney+ is thought to be starting with 982 titles, of which 4.7% are locally-made.
Apple TV+ is launching on November 1, and after some current trials, Disney+ is scheduled to make its first European launch in the Netherlands on November 12. That gives both companies around 14 months to achieve the 30% figure. However, while the 30% quota was set in 2018, the specifics of how it is counted are still being debated.
"It's going to be a challenge for the European Commission to come up with a fair system for the quota," Ampere consultant Ed Border told Variety.
Central to the debate, expected to be decided by the European Commission later this year, is whether to count the quota by titles or by hours. One single typical British drama might be in six episodes, so a decision has to be made whether to count that as one or six titles in the catalog.
It's also complicated defining what constitutes a locally-produced show, as series are now rarely produced by a single company in a single country. Consequently a show filmed in France, might be made by a German studio, but financed by America.
Apple may have an advantage in this, however, as it currently seems to be favoring being the sole producer, and also to not be acquiring as many existing titles as its rivals.
"Unlike Netflix and Amazon," Tim Westcott of IHS Markit told Variety, "which have been doing a lot of acquisitions to bulk up their libraries, Apple TV's strategy in Europe looks as if it will be to focus on making a select amount of original films and series with big stars and creatives attached."
"If they take all the rights," he continued, "they can roll out the titles globally instead of acquiring shows for specific markets."
Some of the new Disney+ titles are made in a galaxy far, far away from Europe
The 30% locally-produced figure does not mean a third of everything Apple TV+ makes must be produced in Europe.
It means that around a third of all the video made available in Europe must be created there. It's not yet known what penalty the European Union could apply to Apple, Disney or others if they fail to meet the quota by the end of 2020.
So just as Netflix customers around the world see quite different catalogs, so streaming services may limit their US-made offerings in order to help meet the required balance.
However, in January 2020, there will be a proposal in the French senate that adds a further requirement. If the proposal is accepted, streaming companies will have to set aside at least 16% of their local revenues for investment back into local content.
And France's Culture Minister, Franck Riester, has said that services which do not comply with such a rule would be shut down in that territory.
Tim Cook promotes Dickinson, one of the shows Apple TV+ is launching with in November
By the end of 2020, all streaming video services, including the new Apple TV+ and Disney+, will be required to have 30% of their entire catalogue locally produced. The requirement is part of a 2018 ruling by the European Parliament, and the existing Netflix and Amazon Prime services are almost at that figure.
According to Variety, Netflix and Amazon Prime together offer approximately 8,000 titles, and currently between 20% to 30% of those are European.
Based on estimates by London-based consultancy Ampere Analysis, Apple TV+ is expected to be launching in Europe with 38 titles, of which just 6.2% are European. Disney+ is thought to be starting with 982 titles, of which 4.7% are locally-made.
Apple TV+ is launching on November 1, and after some current trials, Disney+ is scheduled to make its first European launch in the Netherlands on November 12. That gives both companies around 14 months to achieve the 30% figure. However, while the 30% quota was set in 2018, the specifics of how it is counted are still being debated.
"It's going to be a challenge for the European Commission to come up with a fair system for the quota," Ampere consultant Ed Border told Variety.
Central to the debate, expected to be decided by the European Commission later this year, is whether to count the quota by titles or by hours. One single typical British drama might be in six episodes, so a decision has to be made whether to count that as one or six titles in the catalog.
It's also complicated defining what constitutes a locally-produced show, as series are now rarely produced by a single company in a single country. Consequently a show filmed in France, might be made by a German studio, but financed by America.
Apple may have an advantage in this, however, as it currently seems to be favoring being the sole producer, and also to not be acquiring as many existing titles as its rivals.
"Unlike Netflix and Amazon," Tim Westcott of IHS Markit told Variety, "which have been doing a lot of acquisitions to bulk up their libraries, Apple TV's strategy in Europe looks as if it will be to focus on making a select amount of original films and series with big stars and creatives attached."
"If they take all the rights," he continued, "they can roll out the titles globally instead of acquiring shows for specific markets."
Some of the new Disney+ titles are made in a galaxy far, far away from Europe
The 30% locally-produced figure does not mean a third of everything Apple TV+ makes must be produced in Europe.
It means that around a third of all the video made available in Europe must be created there. It's not yet known what penalty the European Union could apply to Apple, Disney or others if they fail to meet the quota by the end of 2020.
So just as Netflix customers around the world see quite different catalogs, so streaming services may limit their US-made offerings in order to help meet the required balance.
However, in January 2020, there will be a proposal in the French senate that adds a further requirement. If the proposal is accepted, streaming companies will have to set aside at least 16% of their local revenues for investment back into local content.
And France's Culture Minister, Franck Riester, has said that services which do not comply with such a rule would be shut down in that territory.
Comments
How about taking off that MAGA hat?
Actually that won't affect the quality of the service, instead it will increase it. If Apple offers a small inventory of top-quality shows, it can include a few top-quality local shows. If it presents a large inventory mostly consisting of American junk like Netflix, it has to include larger amount of local shows, 30% junk added to 70% junk. That rule forces Apple to keep the inventory small and the quality high.
The US needs to put in place automatic reciprocal laws, if the EU has this rule for US company then any EU company has to complain the exact same way in the US. the BBC who provide content in the US is not required to have 30% local content.
I'm normally against quotas as they only guarantee quantity and not quality but I do understand they are a necessary evil in some cases and this is one area.
Using English as a first language gives us many advantages that we take for granted. In the past, you would hear people in foreign countries ask the natives 'do you speak English'? Now, more often than not, people in Europe just speak English and almost 'expect' the other person to be able to speak it. That's great on some levels as communication barriers are being reduced but on another level it can be seen as a cultural threat, as language often isn't just a simple vehicle for communication, it often comes attached to a certain way of living.
It can also create certain conflicts. The major studios will often dub films into Spanish for example (for countrywide release in Spain) but not into the the Spanish regional languages as they say the cost/benefit ratio isn't favourable to them when everybody understands Spanish. That is a perfectly logical viewpoint but the Catalan government for example will take issue with that stance as they think Catalans should be able to see the film dubbed into Catalan on the same terms as the Spanish version (equal screenings, same prices etc) and things quickly snowball out of control and you realise that the subject has to be tackled in some way.
To give you a possible U.S angle on the situation, imagine a few decades from now, we suddenly realise that Spanish starts to nudge English aside as a preferred language. The government would definitely take measures to protect the main native language of the country.
You are correct most US citizens do not consume foreign made content, is that because we all ignorant and lack cultural or it is because the rest of the world products are not that good. Keep in mind everyone in the US came from somewhere else, and they mostly choose to consume US made content. There are exceptions, I know there are communities of people in US who tend to consume their home country content, but it usually fads within a single generation. Again is it that people in the US lack curiosity or what is out there is not all that good. On the flip of this, what do people in other country tend to like US content over local content.
When we were talking about broadcast content, having 30%+ being local meant that a part of finite resource (hours in the week) was being set aside for Euro content. But with streaming, who cares if Apple has 30 great shows + 10 other shows versus 30 great shows? So Apple (and others) just need to buys a bunch of cheap Euro content and stash it in a dark corner of their app. If there aren't a few companies out there cranking out super cheap "local" content to meet the demand for quality-is-no-object content, they are missing a great opportunity.
Having said that, I doubt Apple would actually do this (pad their inventory with cheap garbage to meet the letter of the law), but I would.
Don't get me wrong, there is great content coming out of Europe. Das Boot is terrific (if you don't mind more raping scenes than most shows) and there was that one about the America mobster hanging out in Sweden, for example. But if necessary to meet the quota, these companies shouldn't think twice about filling the rest with garbage. No one cares about the average/mean rating of all the shows on a platform.
Ah I see the "local content" is any European content. With the UK gone expect a lot of stuff produced in Ireland, or in English outside of Britain. Game of Thrones was produced in Northern Ireland but come Brexit it wouldn't satisfy these rules.
I enjoy music and movies from many different cultures and countries however home grown stuff is the majority.