The European Digital Cinema Report Digital European the Understanding Digital Cinema Roll-Out MEDIA Salles European Audiovisual
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The European Audiovisual Observatory and MEDIA Salles have teamed up to draft this unique analysis of digital cinema roll-out in Europe. The report provides the latest figures on digital screens and penetration rates across Europe and goes beyond them to explain the historical development of digitisation. It discusses the main reasons why roll-out did not happen for over a decade before finally entering the mainstream deployment phase in 2009 and analyses the role played by 3D, Third Party Facilitators and public funding schemes. Understanding the historical context, particularly the costs and benefits of digital cinema, is crucial for assessing future developments of the European film industry. Based on a comprehensive site-by-site listing of digital cinemas as of 2010, the report provides in-depth structural analysis with regard to concentration levels by exhibitors and cinemas of different sizes. It also features a list of the top 50 digital exhibitors in Europe as well as estimated market shares for 3D technology, The European Digital projector and server manufacturers on a country by country basis. A special chapter is dedicated to the specific challenges faced by the European independent sector. The report further contains a comprehensive list of dedicated public funding schemes supporting the digitisation process. The analysis focuses on the pan-European situation which brings to light the big picture aspects of digital Cinema Report cinema roll-out in Europe. The market characteristics of individual markets are depicted in country profiles providing a comprehensive set of key indicators for each of the 35 European markets covered in the report. The European Digital Cinema Report Digital European The Understanding digital cinema roll-out MEDIA Salles European Audiovisual Founded in 1991, MEDIA Salles operates in the Observatory framework of the European Union’s MEDIA Set up in December 1992, the European Programme with the support of the Italian Audiovisual Observatory’s mission is to gather Government. The association has always placed the and diffuse information on the audiovisual promotion of European films through information industry in Europe. and training specifically for cinema exhibitors at the centre of its mission. The Observatory is a European public service body comprised of 37 member states and the In the field of information, MEDIA Salles provides European Union, represented by the European statistics on trends in cinema-going for all European Commission. It operates within the legal countries and the leading world markets. This service framework of the Council of Europe and works has been joined, over the past few years, by a census alongside a number of partner and professional of Europe’s digital cinemas and the elaboration of organisations from within the industry and with data and trends in digitalisation internationally. As a network of correspondents. Elisabetta Brunella regards training, in 2011 the eighth edition was held of the only course offered by the MEDIA Programme In addition to contributions to conferences, MEDIA Salles to deal with the new technologies from the other major activities are the publication perspective of the movie theatres: “DigiTraining Plus: of a Yearbook, newsletters and reports, and European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies”. the provision of information through the Observatory’s Internet site: On the website www.mediasalles.it: http://www.obs.coe.int Martin Kanzler http://www.mediasalles.it The Observatory also makes available four the section DGT online informer is active and European Audiovisual Observatory free-access databases, including LUMIERE on periodically updated and the European Cinema admissions to films released in Europe: Yearbook can also be consulted: http://lumiere.obs.coe.int http://www.mediasalles.it/publicaz.htm and KORDA on public support for film and In addition, MEDIA Salles’ Facebook page provides audiovisual works in Europe: professional players and all those interested with a time to market on the international distribution of http://korda.obs.coe.int December 2011 Italian films, complete with dates and countries of release and other useful information. 200 € ISBN 978-92-871-7282-2 The European Digital Cinema Report Understanding digital cinema roll-out The European Digital Cinema Report Understanding digital cinema roll-out © European Audiovisual Observatory (Council of Europe), Strasbourg, 2011 Directors of publication Wolfgang Closs Executive Director, European Audiovisual Observatory Elisabetta Brunella Secretary General, MEDIA Salles Author Martin Kanzler Film Analyst, Department for Information on Markets and Financing, European Audiovisual Observatory Scientific editor – digital cinema data Elisabetta Brunella Secretary General, MEDIA Salles Supervising editor André Lange Head of the Department for Information on Markets and Financing, European Audiovisual Observatory Contributor Susan Newman-Baudais Film Analyst, Department for Information on Markets and Financing, European Audiovisual Observatory Data collection and analysis by • MEDIA Salles: Elisabetta Brunella Silvia Mancini • European Audiovisual Observatory: Martin Kanzler Carlos Hernández Ingrida Kruopstaite Susan Newman-Baudais Editorial assistant Valérie Haessig Department for Information on Markets and Financing, European Audiovisual Observatory Acknowledgements The European Audiovisual Observatory and MEDIA Salles would like to thank: All of our contacts in organisations across Europe as well as individual exhibition companies who filled out questionnaires, responded to questions and provided the data necessary for this report. Without their invaluable assistance our work on digital cinema would not be possible. We would like to thank in particular the following organisations and networks for their exceptional level of support: • Antrakt Sinema Gazetesi, trade press and research company serving the Turkish market, and in particular Deniz Yavuz • EFARN - all members of the European Film Agency Research Network • Eurimages, the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of European cinematographic works, and in particular Thierry Hugot • Europa Cinémas, the European cinema network focusing on European films, and in particular Jean-Baptiste Selliez • Nevafilm Research, a part of the Nevafilm Group providing market research on Russian theatrical markets, and in particular Ksenya Leontyeva • UNIC, the European grouping of cinema trade associations, and in particular Jan Runge ISBN 978-92-871-7282-2 Print version 978-92-871-7285-3 PDF version 978-92-871-7288-4 Print and PDF versions Price Print edition: 200 Euros Electronic edition (PDF): 260 Euros Both editions: 270 Euros Cover-Layout ACOM Europe, Paris, France Printed in France The European Digital Cinema Report Addendum: Full digital screen data 2011 May 2012 The European Digital Cinema Report 1 Addendum – Full digital screen data 2011 Digital screens by country - 2011 France leads European digital cinema market Table 1 Top 10 European countries by number of digital screens as of December 2011 Boosted by a unique legislative approach France made Rank Country Digital screens 2011 the largest progress in advancing the digitisation of its screen base and further strengthened its position as 1 France 3 656 Europe’s largest digital cinema market. The digital cinema 2 United Kingdom 2 724 law, which became effective in late 2010, made distributor 3 Germany 2 303 contributions, either directly or via a third party, mandatory 4 Spain 1 545 and prohibited any linking of programming choices to the 5 Italy 1 485 level or payment of distributor contributions. 1 769 new 6 Russian Federation 1 473 digital screens, the largest number in Europe, were con- 7 Poland 592 sequently installed throughout 2011, bringing the total number of digital screens to 3 656 by the end of 2011, by 8 Netherlands 540 far the highest digital screen base in all of Europe. 9 Belgium 434 10 Austria 423 The UK and Germany follow at a distance with 2 724 Source: MEDIA Salles and 2 303 digital screens while there were around 1 500 digital screens in the remaining three major European Table 2 Top 10 European countries by number of theatrical markets of Spain, Italy and the Russian Federa- new digital screens in 2011 tion. Roll-out in the UK was primarily driven by commercial New digital screens Rank Country VPF deals as no direct public support has been granted 2011 since the expiration of the pioneering Digital Screen Net- 1 France 1 769 work run by the UK Film Council between 2005 and 2007. Several major cinema chains signed roll-out deals with 2 United Kingdom 1 316 third party service providers in the second half of 2010 or 3 Germany 1 055 2011, significantly contributing to the country’s 1 316 new 4 Spain 787 digital screens in 2011. Direct public support, however, 5 Italy 573 played a more important role as a complementary source 6 Russian Federation 532 of financing in Germany, where no less than 13 dedicated support schemes have been launched since 2010 and 7 Netherlands 288 1 055 new screens were converted to digital during 2011. 8 Poland 268 9 Switzerland 182 Norway and Luxembourg fully digitised 10 Czech Republic 166 In 2011 Norway and Luxembourg became the first two Source: European Audiovisual Observatory after MEDIA Salles European theatrical markets to become fully digital, closely followed by Belgium which was the only other Table 3 Top 10 European countries by digital e country to pass the critical 80% penetration