The outlook for the coming year could be sunny to cloudy. Towards the end of the year, promising news bubbled up from all directions. The strike in the USA is over. In the new year, cinemas will be able to show fewer US films, with global sales falling by 2 billion dollars. At the same time, this represents a great opportunity for European and German cinema. Confirmed by international successes, this is an opportunity - even if significantly fewer German films were produced last year. The postponed US productions will be looking for studios, service providers and crews worldwide, which should also increase the number of high-quality, well-budgeted production days here in Germany - although the long-overdue funding reform is not on schedule. Local broadcasters are also turning their attention to national content. This will also help entertainment, factual and non-fiction. And last but not least, the global requirements for non-financial documentation and reporting obligations have become more stringent, which will meet our German, anticipatory over-fulfillment commitment. Our service, production, sales and recycling companies in particular are already well prepared. If it weren't for the global crises with their unpredictable consequences and our "old" problems with bureaucracy and skilled workers, we could look to the future with cautious optimism and confidence.
The polycrises of the past few years have increased agility and willingness to change even in public service structures. The time that has passed could perhaps have been used better, but we are nevertheless standing firmly in a new world today. Cinema is alive again, thanks in part to new film concepts with extra-long length or an uncompromising audience orientation that now also copes well with demanding material. The past cinema year has proven this.
Associations have rightly demanded that politicians ensure the reliability of the film industry's framework conditions. Now, a concrete implementation concept must indeed follow quickly. Whether a new mechanism between the federal and state governments as part of the reinvestment obligation goes too far - after all, a "tax incentive model" is to be established at the same time - will be clarified by the various market forces through their well-established channels with politicians. Producers are now solving this question pragmatically through cooperation and co-productions. Because the German banking scene was too caught up in the old way of thinking for such production concepts, new players have already positioned themselves. More competition certainly won't do any harm here.
The trend towards consolidation will certainly continue. M&A data from the major consulting firms supports this thesis. New structures will bring about changes there too, particularly due to artificial intelligence and the constantly growing number of applications. Here, too, there is a great opportunity for our strong innovative power in Germany. Our requirements are often higher, more complex and have to comply with more bureaucratic regulations. This often forces us to find more complex solutions. The world is changing, and in many areas of corporate ethics and sustainability, European ideas are becoming the global standard. This gives us an advantage.
Together with our partner companies, we will continue established and successful formats for networking, qualification and knowledge management in the new year. At the same time, we are looking forward to new solutions and alternatives. With Ensider:Intelligence, we will soon be offering economic data from the creative industries specifically for managers, with easy-to-adapt templates and practical application examples.
Let us seize the opportunities together and start the new year positively. We look forward to personal encounters and constructive ideas.
Your Ensider:Team
(Author: Markus Vogelbacher)