Label sites. The scope of the current activities will be enlarged and reinforced – also in view of increasing the visibility and impact of the European Heritage Label in the medium term.
2022 PRIORITIES: MEDIA STRAND MEDIA actions will reflect the Commission’s structured approach to fundamental societal challenges, which are relevant across our range of support, of the green transition as well as of ensuring diversity and inclusion. Equally, all actions must demonstrate European added value. COVID-19: supporting the recovery of the audio-visual industry The audiovisual sector has been severely hit by the COVID-19 crisis. News publishing saw its advertising revenues drop between 30% and 80%22 and TV by 20%, during generalised lockdowns in the second quarter of 2020. European media SMEs face severe liquidity issues, while unemployment has increased, and many creative professionals – particularly those subject to precarious employment conditions or freelancers – have found themselves with no income. Cinemas suffered a collapse in revenues (with losses estimated at EUR 100 000 per screen per month during lockdown23), whilst shooting of new films, programmes and TV series has been in many cases halted. Yet, there are also some winners and these are mainly the global online players, all of which are non- European. Netflix revenues grew 25% in Q224, whilst Disney + launched in 13 countries and TikTok became the most downloaded non-gaming app in 2020. The increase in profits of the large data and distribution companies aggravates the global competitive position of the European cultural and creative sector. In this context the MEDIA Strand will contribute to the implementation of the MAAP. It will support short term recovery efforts through a dedicated search tool for media companies on relevant EU funding opportunities, contribute to the launch of the MediaInvest equity investment platform and support collaborative news media partnerships. MEDIA will also support longer term transformation through fostering a European Virtual and Augmented Reality industrial coalition and will facilitate a dialogue with the industry on the objective of climate neutrality by 2050. Finally, MEDIA will help enable citizens and companies by fostering European media talents including by promoting diversity before and behind the camera, and by scouting and supporting media start-ups; strengthening media literacy actions and policy and raising awareness of young audiences about European content; and facilitating strengthened cooperation among regulators within the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) to ensure the proper functioning of the EU media market. Cross cutting issues The audiovisual industry has already taken some encouraging, although non-coordinated, steps towards greening their practices, and the new MEDIA will continue to contribute to a climate-neutral audiovisual sector, as envisaged by the MAAP. As of 2022, a structured dialogue on greening will be launched. Building on the actions started in 2021, the Commission will continue the cooperation Forum with the industry and (sub)national film and audiovisual funds. Sharing existing best practices, federating approaches, and
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http://www.newsmediaeurope.eu/news/covid-19-and-the-news-media-journalism-always-comes-at-a-cost/ https://www.unic-cinemas.org/en/news/news-blog/detail/the-impact-of-the-coronavirus-outbreak-on-the-europeancinema-industry/ 24 : https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/netflix-stock-record-high-q2-forecast-1234703262.; https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccabellan/2020/02/14/tiktok-is-the-most-downloaded-app-worldwide-and-india-isleading-the-charge 23
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