The audiovisual and interactive media sector occupies a strategic position within the French cultural industries. It encompasses cinema, television, radio, on-demand audiovisual services, animation and video games, bringing together public service media, private broadcasters, independent producers, digital platforms and interactive media companies. Public intervention remains particularly significant, combining sector-specific financing mechanisms, content regulation and support for production.
The French audiovisual landscape is structured around public service media, private broadcasters and an increasingly important range of on-demand services. France Télévisions and Radio France remain central public operators, alongside Arte France, while commercial broadcasters and global streaming services occupy a major position in the distribution and financing of audiovisual content. The growth of on-demand services has significantly reshaped patterns of access to audiovisual content and increased the role of global platforms within the French media landscape.
Cinema remains one of the most distinctive areas of French cultural policy. In 2024, French cinemas recorded 181.5 million admissions, while French films accounted for 44.8% of admissions, according to the National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, CNC). In the same year, 309 films were approved by the CNC, the highest level recorded in its annual production statistics (CNC, 2025). These indicators reflect both the scale of cinema attendance and the high level of production activity within the French system.
Cinema also occupies a distinctive place in French cultural life and international cultural visibility. France hosts a broad range of film festivals, from internationally prominent events such as the Cannes Film Festival to specialised festivals devoted to animation, documentary film, short films and particular genres or audiences. These events contribute to public access, professional circulation and the international visibility of films. French cinema also benefits from structured international promotion through Unifrance, the organisation responsible for promoting French films and audiovisual works abroad. According to Unifrance’s preliminary estimates, French films generated 42.5 million admissions and EUR 272 million in box-office receipts in foreign cinemas in 2025 (Unifrance, 2026). This combination of domestic exhibition, festival circulation and structured international promotion helps explain the particularly prominent position of cinema within French cultural policy and its broader international cultural influence.
A central feature of the French system is the redistributive financing model administered by the CNC. Its resources are notably derived from sector-specific taxes linked to cinema admissions, television services and the distribution of audiovisual content, including on-demand services. These revenues are redistributed through automatic and selective support schemes for film and audiovisual creation, production, distribution and cinema exhibition. Automatic support is generally linked to the previous economic performance of eligible works or companies and is reinvested in new projects, while selective schemes allocate funding according to cultural, artistic or sector-specific criteria.
One of the best-known selective mechanisms is the avance sur recettes (advance on box-office receipts), created in 1959. It provides funding to feature-film projects selected primarily on artistic grounds, generally before production, with the aim of supporting ambitious or distinctive works that may face difficulties securing sufficient market financing. Although formally conceived as an advance repayable from future receipts, it functions as a major instrument of cultural policy by enabling projects to be assessed on their artistic qualities rather than solely on their expected commercial performance. The mechanism illustrates a broader principle of the French model: revenues generated by the circulation and consumption of audiovisual works contribute to financing future creation.
The expansion of global streaming platforms requires a significant adaptation of this regulatory framework. Under the 2021 rules governing on-demand audiovisual media services (services de médias audiovisuels à la demande, SMAD), services targeting the French market can be required to contribute to the financing of European works and works of French original expression (œuvres d’expression originale française, EOF). According to the French Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique, Arcom), for subscription video-on-demand services falling within the scope of the rules, the contribution is generally set at a minimum of 20% of net annual turnover generated in France, rising to 25% where at least one film is made available less than twelve months after its theatrical release in France. At least 85% of the relevant expenditure must be devoted to EOF works (Arcom, Conventionner ou déclarer un SMAD). The framework has therefore integrated major international streaming services into the financing of French and European audiovisual and cinematographic production, extending a central principle of the French model beyond domestic broadcasters.
Beyond production financing, French regulation also addresses the visibility of French and European works within on-demand services. Under Decree No. 2021-793 of 22 June 2021 on on-demand audiovisual media services, the catalogues of services falling within its scope must include at least 60% European works and 40% works of French original expression (œuvres d’expression originale française, EOF). The framework also requires services to give effective prominence to European and EOF works, rather than merely making them available in the catalogue. These provisions illustrate how French audiovisual policy has extended beyond financing production to address the conditions under which works are exposed and promoted within digital distribution environments.
Video games constitute a distinct and increasingly significant component of the French interactive media sector. The French market generated EUR 5.856 billion in revenue in 2025, according to the 2025 French Video Game Market Report published by the French trade association representing video game publishers (Syndicat des éditeurs de logiciels de loisirs, SELL, 2026). This figure refers to the value of the French consumer market rather than to the turnover of French production companies. On the production side, the Annual Survey of Video Games in France – 2024 Edition identified 980 companies, including 575 game development studios (French Games Map, 2024). These figures illustrate a broad ecosystem combining major internationally active companies such as Ubisoft, established studios such as Quantic Dream, and a diverse independent development scene, alongside specialised training institutions.
Public policy has progressively recognised video games as both a field of cultural creation and an economic industry. The Video Game Tax Credit (Crédit d’impôt jeu vidéo, CIJV) is a fiscal incentive designed to support the development of eligible games by reducing part of the production costs borne by companies established in France. Eligibility is subject to cultural and creative criteria, linking economic support to the contribution of projects to European cultural creation. Alongside this mechanism, the Video Game Support Fund (Fonds d’aide au jeu vidéo, FAJV), administered by the CNC, provides selective funding for projects at different stages of development, including writing, pre-production and production. This combination of fiscal and selective support reflects the hybrid position of video games within French cultural policy, at the intersection of artistic creation, technological innovation and international market competition.
Overall, audiovisual and interactive media illustrate how French cultural policy has sought to adapt established support and regulatory principles to new forms of production and distribution. In the audiovisual sector, this has involved extending financing and visibility obligations to global on-demand services, while in video games public intervention combines selective cultural support with instruments designed to sustain production in a highly internationalised industry. The resulting framework reflects a broader evolution of the French model: rather than abandoning sector-specific intervention in response to digital transformation, it has progressively extended and adapted it to new actors, formats and modes of access.
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