july august | Page 6

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Streaming deep dives, France, Germany, Italy, Spain

DEGI: The Digital Entertainment Group International, in partnership with Fabric, has unveiled its sixth report on global regions and country deepdives, focusing on the entertainment landscape across Europe. This overview offers insights into France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, including transactional trends in these four countries. It highlights Italy’ s preference for ad-supported streaming and the popularity of dubbed content in Germany and Spain.

The report dives into the evolving streaming landscape across Europe’ s biggest markets. Together, these countries are among the world’ s top content producers, with France ranking third globally. While paid subscriptions remain the most widely used form of Home Entertainment across all four regions, one in four households has also purchased or rented film and TV content through digital retailers. Transactional engagement is especially strong in Germany,
“ Europe’ s largest contentproducing markets are experiencing a significant change in how content is accessed and consumed.”
where nearly two in five households use this format. Ad-supported models also play a key role, especially in Italy, where the preference for cheaper ad-supported plans is 11 % higher than the regional value. In Italy, the significance of transactional content is notable, with over 26,000 titles available, more than 4,000 of which are local productions.
“ Europe’ s largest content-producing markets are experiencing a significant change in how content is accessed and consumed,” notes Yasmin Nevard, head of insights at DEGI.“ Consumers are engaging with a broader variety of services than ever before, and transactional services still play a crucial role in that mix, offering the largest selection of titles and providing clear value for major new releases, alongside subscription and adfunded platforms. At the same time, the power of local content is stronger than ever, with audiences increasingly seeking out and connecting with homegrown stories. This report, along with previous reports created in collaboration with Fabric, offers valuable insights for BASE and DEGI members to help make informed decisions— with additional reports, including an in-depth look at the APAC region, still to come.”“ This latest report [ provides ] a comprehensive lens into how audiences in France, Germany, Italy and Spain are navigating the rapidly evolving streaming landscape,” adds Tom Gennari, chief data officer at Fabric.“ From the rise of adsupported models in Italy, to Germany’ s strong preference for dubbed content and the persistent challenge of piracy in Spain – the insights uncovered here offer critical guidance for content strategies and platform decisions across Europe. With Fabric, we continue to deliver exclusive, data-rich intelligence to DEGI, helping the industry stay ahead of behavioural shifts and market dynamics.”

Premier Sports, Disney + score La Liga deals

Spain’ s top-flight football, La Liga, has confirmed what it describes as“ groundbreaking” three-year broadcast deals with Premier Sports and Disney + for the UK and Ireland markets. Running until the end of the 2027 / 28 season, the new agreements will offer La Liga fans unparalleled access to top-flight Spanish football, with live coverage across both linear and digital platforms, as well as expanded access to highlights.
“ Today begins a new era in La Liga’ s broadcast distribution in the UK and Ireland,” stated La Liga President Javier Tebas.“ We’ re proud to renew with a valued partner in Premier Sports, while also breaking new ground with an exclusive Saturday night match on Disney + which will give unparalleled access to La Liga fans of all ages.”
Premier Sports retains its status as the primary broadcaster of La Liga in the UK and Ireland, covering over 340 live matches per season from top-flight La Liga EA Sports via its UK distribution on Sky, Virgin Media and Prime Video Channels, as well as its Premier Sports Player. In addition, Premier Sports carries the biggest games every week from Spain’ s segunda división, La Liga Hypermotion.
“ La Liga continues to set the global standard with its unrivalled flair, tactical brilliance, and a galaxy of stars that
light up every matchweek,” commented Premier Sports CEO Richard Sweeney.“ From the intensity of ElClásico to rising young talents, the league offers drama and excitement like no other.”
Disney + makes its live football debut in the UK and Ireland as exclusive home of all Saturday primetime La Liga kick‐offs, reinforcing the platform’ s expansion into live sport following its pan-European acquisition of UEFA Women’ s Champions League rights from next season.
“ At Disney, we celebrate storytelling that moves and excites,” said Karl Holmes, general manager, Disney + EMEA.“ From the cinematic scale of FX’ s Alien: Earth to the sharp
wit of Only Murders in the Building and the action-packed suspense of Lucasfilm’ s Andor, our customers know they’ re in for something special. Now, with La Liga joining the lineup, they can experience that same excitement on the pitch with weekly matches featuring legendary clubs like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona and stars like Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold, as part of their Disney + subscription.”
In addition to its agreements with Premier Sports and Disney +, La Liga has also expanded its digital strategy to include new UK and Ireland clip licensing agreements with Goalhanger and other prominent digital platforms, making La Liga’ s best goals, highlights and viral moments widely available across digital and social channels.
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