After prosperous years during the pandemic, investments in Quebec TV shows and films have slowed considerably in the last year. It is estimated that in one year, the volume of production in the audiovisual sector has fallen between 18 and 20%.
This is suggested by preliminary data compiled by the Quebec Association of Media Production (AQPM), which held its annual conference this week in Saint-Hyacinthe. These figures, which exclude foreign filming, relate to the period from April 2023 to March 2024. This is a turnaround from the trend observed during the pandemic.
“Budgets had increased during the pandemic. During this period, Quebecor launched the Vrai platform and Bell launched its general channel Noovo. The demand for original content was high. It slowed down a lot today. We feel that there is consolidation,” explained Hélène Messier, president and CEO of the AQPM.
During the pandemic years, the volume of Quebec film production had decreased slightly. But in television, it had rather experienced exceptional growth, despite the fall in advertising revenues which is affecting broadcasters. In 2019-2020, independent producers shared $664 million to shoot television content; two years later, this sum rose to 848 million.
At the time, the large number of film shoots in Quebec even posed the challenge of labor shortages on television sets. This is much less true today. Independent producers, who are behind most of the programs on the air in Quebec, have been caught up in the crisis hitting the industry.
“It’s certain that when broadcasters cut jobs, there is also a rationalization in production. If each broadcaster invests two or three million less in production, that translates into fewer program orders for us,” notes Hélène Messier, alluding to recent cutbacks at TVA, Radio-Canada and Bell.
Optimism
The situation remains difficult in the television sector, but the AQPM still expects production volume to stabilize this year. A decline, like that recorded in 2023-2024, is not anticipated.
Firstly because the tax credit offered to producers was improved in the Legault government’s latest budget. But also because the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) must present its new regulatory framework in the coming months, which could force the large platforms to reinvest part of their profits in the Canadian television ecosystem.
The Minister of Heritage, Pascale St-Onge, also reiterated this week her desire to increase the share of federal funding intended for audiovisual production for French-speaking productions from 33% to 40%. “The last few months have been difficult for our industry. But there was a lot of optimism at our conference. More than I would have thought,” noted Hélène Messier.