Berlin, 29.11.2024 - According to this year's survey of Production Alliance member companies, the German film industry is struggling with an extremely difficult economic situation. This is rated as bad or very bad by 77% of the companies in the Production Alliance (2023: 56%). Only 0.5% of the companies surveyed rated the situation in the industry as very good or good. 80% of the companies in the fiction sector stated that the order volume of international streamers had fallen sharply or very sharply since 2022. If the film reform fails on 1 January 2025, there is a risk of massive migration abroad, particularly in this sector.

The biggest problems and challenges cited by the companies surveyed were rising costs and falling budgets from clients. This problem exists for small and large companies alike, regardless of whether they produce fiction or non-fiction programmes.

Björn BöhningCEO and Spokesman of the Board of the Production Alliance: "The dramatic deterioration in the economic situation of the film industry is continuing this year. The unclear situation regarding film funding is now threatening to stifle all hopes for next year. What is particularly frightening is the prospect that the high economic pressure will cause many projects to move abroad. Even artistic success will not prevent the haemorrhaging of Germany as a production location. We once again appeal to politicians to act now! The film and television industry needs the impetus provided by the film reform and clarity on the increase in the broadcasting licence fee recommended by the KEF."

As in the previous year, company profits remain at a very low level (median: 2.5 - 5%). The most common value in the sample is a profit of between 0 and 2.5%. The decline in corporate profits has now reached a level that makes a sustainable development of the industry seem hardly possible. This is particularly true for the fiction segment: almost a third of fiction-producing companies are currently making losses. A further quarter have precarious profit margins of between 0 and 2.5%. At the same time, the risks of productions being more expensive than planned are particularly high in fiction productions - risks that are borne almost exclusively by the production company.

In a special survey in the fiction sector, 80% of the companies stated that the order situation has declined sharply or very sharply since 2022. Just under 70% of the companies see a migration of productions abroad as inevitable if the film reform fails. If all companies were to realise this announcement, around half a billion euros of fiction production volume would be at risk of being relocated abroad.

The autumn survey is the annual member survey of the Alliance of German Producers - Film, Television & Audiovisual Media. It has been conducted since 2009 and asks for economic data from the last completed financial year (here: 2023) and estimates for the coming year. 329 members of the Production Alliance were surveyed in the period between 9 October 2023 and 4 November 2024. 362 companies were surveyed, of which 214 participated in full (response rate 59 % and therefore representative of the member companies of the Production Alliance, but not of the market as a whole, as production companies with sales of less than EUR 1 million are underrepresented in the Production Alliance compared to the market as a whole). The companies in the sample represent a total production turnover of around 2.3 billion euros.

In addition to the autumn 2024 survey, the Production Alliance conducted a special survey among its member companies in the fiction sector on the topics of "Order volume in the streaming sector" and film reform. Of 152 companies (total population), 55 companies took part (response rate: 36 %).

You can find all further information on the autumn survey at www.produktionsallianz.de.

Press contact
Juliane Werlitz, Press Officer
Kronenstraße 3, 10117 Berlin
Tel.: +40 30 206708824, Mobile: +49 171 6440156
Mail: juliane.werlitz@produktionsallianz.de

Picture: © Paxabay