Indeed, you can receive financial aid from the European Commission for your VOD services. In this article, we will focus on the grants called "Promotion of European audiovisual works online" which makes it possible for you to apply for three types of support. Let’s discover it!
Promotion of European audiovisual works online
The European Commission created the Creative Europe programme to provide support to the cultural and audiovisual sectors. Indeed, Creative Europe develop and promote European cultural and linguistic diversity and strengthen the competitiveness of the European creative sectors, in particular the audiovisual sector.
Creative Europe created a grants belonging to the MEDIA sub-program. Its objectives are to support “transnational marketing, branding and distribution of audiovisual works on all other non-theatrical platforms” and “to promote new distribution modes in order to foster the emergence of new business models”.
To achieve this, they’ve created a fund for the distribution of non-national European films, through theatrical distribution and on other platforms, as well as for international sales activities, in particular the subtitling, dubbing and audio description of audiovisual works.
The grants named Promotion of European audiovisual works online, formerly called the support for online distribution, support three types of actions :
- Support for the promotion, marketing and branding activities of existing VOD services
- Support for the assembly and delivery of digital 'online ready' packages of European audiovisual works
- Support for projects that demonstrate innovative strategies for distributing and promoting European audiovisual works (including audience development initiatives focusing on innovative and participatory strategies that reach out to wider audiences with European films.)
You can apply to the three different grants if you want so, but you will need to provide separate applications for each fund.
The envelope for the three projects is €9.49 million. The estimated split between the three actions is respectively, €4 million, €2.14 million and €3.35 million.
Who can apply?
- Private companies
- Non-profit organizations
- Associations
- Charities
- Foundations
- Municipalities
Established in a country participating in the MEDIA sub-program, and owned directly or by majority participation, by nationals from the country.
You can find below the list of the countries with a full participation:
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK.
Who can apply for the “Support for the promotion, marketing and branding activities of existing VOD services”?
In order to be eligible your catalogue of films on the VOD platform must consist of:
- at least 500 available audiovisual works
- at least 50% European audiovisual works
- audiovisual works from at least five countries participating in the MEDIA sub-program, representing at least five different official languages of the European Union
- no more than 40% of audiovisual works from a single country.
Who can apply for the “Support for the assembly and delivery of digital 'online ready' packages of European audiovisual works”?
In order to be eligible, the catalogue of films must consist of:
- a minimum of 20 European audiovisual works, or if only constituted by television series, a total of at least 20 episodes of one or several series (see page 10 of the guidelines for a definition of European content)
- audiovisual works from at least five countries participating in the MEDIA sub-program representing at least five different official languages of the European Union (this is not applicable for catalogues made only of TV series)
Each title in the catalogue should also:
- be sold for theatrical or TV distribution in at least five countries participating in the MEDIA sub-program
- be made available on VOD services in at least three other countries participating in the MEDIA sub-program (the additional availability of the films for non-European countries is also accepted)
Who can apply for the “Support for projects that demonstrate innovative strategies for distributing and promoting European audiovisual works”?
Projects should focus on one or more of the following:
- the convergence and complementarity between offline and online distribution platforms
- the transnational availability of European audiovisual works within the digital environment
- new approaches to audience development in the digital age beyond traditional distribution practices
If you want some free advice, you can get in touch with the Creative Europe Desk UK.
To get to know the application process and the documents you’ll need to send, you’ll have to follow the steps described in the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency’s website.
If you need some advices about your VOD project, get in touch with us !