Unifrance Rendez-Vous 2026: French audiovisual program exports totaled €282.7 million in 2025

On the occasion of the 32nd edition of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous (September 7–10, 2026, in Le Havre), the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC) and Unifrance released a comprehensive overview of the export, standing, and global reach of French audiovisual production in 2025. Opening the session in Le Havre, Gilles Pélisson, President of Unifrance, highlighted key industry issues discussed during the Lumière Summit alongside President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, addressing creation safeguards, AI, piracy, and funding contributions. Emphasizing the need for greater transparency from global platforms and calling for multilateralism in production, Pélisson noted: "In 2025, as you will hear in a few moments, audiovisual sales are down. But we should not forget that we do not have access to all the data, particularly data from platforms — Astérix by Chabat, for example. And yet platforms now play a major role in both the creation and circulation of works. Without greater transparency, allowing us to gain a full and comprehensive understanding of the value of our works, producers will not be able to finance the inventive, independent and high-quality creation that matters so much to all of us." Reflecting on the resilience and adaptability of the sector in a challenging economic climate, Pélisson added: "While witnessing a sharp decline in sales of French audiovisual programmes in 2025 following particularly favorable post-COVID years, we also note that French productions held up rather well amid a deteriorating global economic climate, maintaining a central place in the global audiovisual landscape—particularly outside English-language production countries. In this challenging context, France's ability to produce content across all genres, covering a wide range of themes and narrative forms, remains undiminished. We must therefore ensure that the effective funding system, which has proven its worth, will be maintained, enabling France to be recognised as a leading producer and exporter of audiovisual content, whilst taking on board new trends and the realities of a changing market." DECLINING NUMBERS Total revenues from French audiovisual exports—including sales, pre-sales, and co-production contributions—stood at €282.7 million in 2025, marking a 28.1% decline from the record high of €393.0 million set in 2024. Pre-sales saw the sharpest contraction, dropping 59.3% to €30.7 million, while co-production contributions fell 18.7% to €87.7 million. Program sales reached €164.3 million, down 21.6% from 2024's €209.6 million. "The slowdown reflects an increasingly strained economic environment where buyers became more selective, private and public broadcasters reduced financial commitments, and SVOD services streamlined investments toward local programming," said Cècile Lacoue from CNC. For the fourth consecutive year, fiction remained the leading export genre, generating €54.9 million in sales (down 27.0% from 2024) and securing a 33.4% market share of total export sales. Demand was largely driven by "light crime" series like "Deadly Tropics", "Bright Minds" and, "Tom & Lola",, as well as event-driven series such as "Samber" and "The Sentinels". Documentaries held steady with a minor 2.7% decrease compared to 2024, totaling €43.1 million in sales. The genre took second place with a 26.2% market share, powered by strong international standing in history, science, and current affairs. Animation dropped to third place for the first time, declining 30.3% to €32.2 million (a 19.6% market share) as the sector felt the early impacts of market contraction and shifting viewing habits. REGIONAL MARKETS AND RIGHTS BREAKDOWN Western Europe remained the top market for French works, generating €76.7 million in sales (down 15.3%) and capturing 46.7% of global revenues. North America regained second place with €18.9 million (+14.7%), taking an 11.5% market share. Central and Eastern Europe followed in third with €12.2 million (-26.5%, 7.4% share), while Asia/Oceania generated €8.7 million (-33.4%, 5.3% share). Multi-region and worldwide rights totaled €38.4 million (-33.6%), led by animation (29.7%) and documentaries (21.9%). In terms of distribution formats, the TV Rights (including "all rights" / 360 sales) maintained the majority share at 54.4%; the non-linear rights have dropped to 34.8% of revenues (down from 40.9% in 2024), and the AVOD Rights rose sharply to account for 14.3% of total sales (up from 9.6% in 2024), though this growth did not fully offset the revenue decline in SVOD. GLOBAL REACH AND BROADCAST PRESENCE Unifrance's inaugural Annual Report on the Audiovisual Sector highlighted that France ranked 3rd globally—behind the US and the UK, and 1st among EU countries—in the number of works broadcast on linear channels worldwide, while ranking 7th for SVOD releases. Animation and children's programming ("Miraculous", "Grizzy and the Lemmings", "Pyjamasques") retained a prominent presence on international TV, particularly in the UK and Brazil. Documentaries ("Ancient Superstructures", "D-Day: 100 Days for Freedom", "Miyazaki", "Spirit of Nature", "I Am Martin Parr") represented the genre with the most recent releases on SVOD platforms, while detective and light crime series ("Profiling", "Reckless Summer", "The Bureau") continued to perform strongly on global screens. AN EVER-CHANGING AUDIOVISUAL MARKET Following the presentation of the CNC figures, industry leaders gathered for a panel titled "How to Adapt in an Ever-Changing Audiovisual Market," featuring Julie Tolza (Seventeen), Ulrich Lagriffoul (Mediawan Rights), and Morgann Favennec (Mediatoon Distribution), who offered their perspectives on the market's downturn and strategies for resilience. Reflecting on the CNC report, Julie Tolza emphasized France's underlying artistic strength despite market headwinds: "It's worth highlighting that France does indeed remain in third place for linear broadcasts and seventh place for non-linear distribution. This reflects the fact that there is genuine expertise across all genres. We have truly talented French writers and directors, and works that continue to be exported despite the difficulties they are facing today. For my part, I would say that, unfortunately, these figures did not surprise me. I've been warned about the situation for some time, and this only confirms the current state of the crisis." Morgann Favennec echoed the sentiment, noting the broader historical perspective of the decline: "There was no great surprise on my side either. I would say that what is particularly striking is the scale and widespread nature of the downturn. The market is returning more or less to its 2015 level, wiping out ten years of growth. The key factor is obviously the sharp drop in pre-sales, which nonetheless reflects a crisis of confidence among buyers... And, of course, as representatives of animation, seeing the genre reach third place on the podium is significant. It is a rather depressing indicator that indeed reflects the crisis we have been going through since 2020." Examining the root causes of the market shift, Ulrich Lagriffoul analyzed how valuation dynamics are evolving: "My feeling is that there hasn't fundamentally been a decline in the value of rights; rather, there has been a decline in the number of valuable programs. We're seeing revenues concentrated on less content than before, while a whole segment of content is becoming increasingly long-lasting. So we have a broader spectrum of programs. We're also seeing a decline in production, which means that, in any case, fewer programs are being released—and will be released next year—since the production announced this year is down again." Addressing specific genre challenges, Tolza pointed out: "As for documentaries, I would say it's a mix of both: a decline in the value of rights and in the number of transactions... Today, our clients are committing much later, which makes our role in helping producers complete their financing plans more complicated, especially since those plans are also shrinking." To overcome the ongoing crisis, the panelists stressed strategic alignment, diversification, and regional partnerships. Lagriffoul highlighted closer integration across the chain: "Our idea, rather, is precisely to strengthen relations between producers and distributors, so that we can continue this collaboration. I have long believed in producer-distributor collaboration... Joining a group like Miedawan is clearly a case in point, and it is part of the development strategy." Outlining her forward-looking strategy, Tolza concluded: "In the strategies I am trying to implement, the real aim is to diversify the documentary topics I can take on, in order to continue securing pre-financing. Once again, there is real expertise in documentary production. I'm thinking in particular of current affairs, science and history. And we have long-standing partnerships in Europe that are still in place. Belgium is clearly in first position, as you can see. Switzerland is also an important partner. But these relationships are also becoming more complex in terms of the positioning of French broadcasters."