(Montreal) The decrease in foreign productions during the pandemic contributed in large part to a decline in the value of production by the audiovisual industry in Quebec in 2020-2021.
Posted at 3:21 p.m.
After four consecutive years of growth, the value of production in the audiovisual industry fell to 2.2 billion. This is a decline of 6% compared to the previous year, but this value remains higher than that of 2018-2019.
This is what the 2022 edition of the Profile of the audiovisual industry in Quebecpublished Wednesday by the Observatory of culture and communications of the Institute of statistics of Quebec.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not had the same impact on the different production segments of the Quebec audiovisual industry, the document points out.
After four years of strong growth, the segment comprising participation in foreign production and production services decreased in 2020-2021 to 970 million, or 258 million less than in 2019-2020.
As for independent television production, the value reached an unprecedented level in ten years, at 815 million, an increase of 23% compared to 2019-2020.
This increase is attributable to independent television production in French (fiction, variety and magazines) which increased by 29% compared to 2019-2020, to stand at 520 million, while production in other languages increased 8% to 113 million.
Film production value was $146 million in 2020-21, down 14% from 2019-20. Its share in overall production (6%) is at its lowest level in the last ten years. The number of fiction feature films is also at a low point compared to the last ten years, with 27 productions in 2020-2021, 15 less than the previous year.