European public service broadcasters under pressure

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 26/05/2021

The public service broadcaster’s role is a media focus in many European countries. Two thirds of European public service broadcasters in a recent survey said revenues were either below inflation or subject to budget cuts.

Several of them figure among the top 50 audiovisual companies worldwide. But the space at the top is becoming increasingly crowded. Consolidation and the rise of new players, notably tech companies, have been pushing PSBs further down the top-players global table, the European Audiovisual Observatory says in its annual report.

The five PSB players listed in the 2019 top 50 table – Germany’s ARD, the United Kingdom’s BBC, France’s France Télévisions, Italy’s RAI and Japan’s NRK – faced a largely US-dominated competition. More than half of the global top 50 audiovisual companies were US companies

The total operating revenues of PSBs in the 38 European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) countries for which data were available, were Euro 36.10 billion. The EU28 organisations accounted for 93% (Euro 33.44 billion) of this total income.

LARGEST BUDGETS

The largest budgets in 2019 were those of PSBs in Germany (28% of total revenues in the EU28), the UK (20%) and France (14%). Together, they accounted for 62% of total PSB revenues in the EU28, a combined Euro 20.85 billion. The five PSB players listed in the 2019 top 50 table – Germany’s ARD, the United Kingdom’s BBC, France’s France Télévisions, Italy’s RAI and Japan’s NRK – faced a largely US-dominated competition.

More than half of the global top 50 audiovisual companies were US companies with substantial financial prowess. Comcast, first in the top 50 table, had annual turnover of more than Euro 67.40 billion, 10 times more than the leading PSB by revenue leader, ARD (20th). Erosion of PSB revenues PSBs have seen their revenues decline in real terms. For the fourth year running, inflation in 2019 outpaced a moderate average PSB annual revenue increase of 0.8% (Euro 264.9 million) in the EU28 member states and those in the EAO countries (0.7%; an increase of EUR 261.7 million).

ZERO ANNUAL GROWTH

Excluding Germany, there was zero annual growth both in the EU28 and in the EAO markets, further amplifying the inflation effect. From 2018 to 2019, PSB revenues in two thirds of the EAO countries were either below inflation or subject to budget cuts.

PSBs faced cuts totalling Euro 136.7 million in the EU28 and Euro 159.0 million in the EAO countries over the same period.

“PSBs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal and Romania experienced the most significant declines in annual revenues”, the report says.

“ Variations in funding PSB revenues varied strongly between countries, not only in absolute terms, but also per household: for example, the per inhabitant revenue of DR (Denmark) was Euro 170.8 in 2018, compared to Euro 4.6 in Georgia.”

“Both pressure on public funding and the advertising crisis explain this funding stagnation (a downward trend in real terms), as PSBs generally rely on these two resources, although to varying degrees: on average in the EU28 public funding accounted for 77% of PSB resources in 2019 (78% in the 38 EAO countries) but the share varied between 98% in Finland and 31% in Malta.”