European producers no longer competing just with each other but against American studios and streamers, YouTube and social platforms must get new public and private financing to grab audience attention and international revenues, the MIA Market heard Monday.
Giuseppe Abbamonte, director for media policy for the European Commission, told the Rome conference the challenge from international competition, especially from U.S. digital platforms such as YouTube, was moving to ensure European producers could attract foreign financing for homegrown projects, while retaining control of original IP. “We must invest in companies, not just in projects. European companies should be more robust from a financial viewpoint, and able to take on risks and compete with international competitors,” he told the MIA market.
His comments came as the MIA Market in Rome kicked off with a panel on European producers collaborating in an EU-wide audiovisual policy amid a global business upended by consolidation and acquisitions of European companies by American rivals. Comcast-owned Sky has agreed to acquire ITV’s broadcast and streaming operations in the U.K. in a deal valued at $2.1 billion. RTL in Germany is combining its market-leading free-to-air broadcaster with the country’s No. 1 pay-TV group Sky Deutschland, recently acquired from Comcast.
Elsewhere, Italy’s MediaForEurope last year took control of Germany’s number two commercial network ProSiebenSat.1, adding it to MFE’s growing European stable that already includes Mediaset, Italy’s top commercial TV group, and Telecinco, Spain’s number two commercial network. The Europeans are responding to YouTube and other digital platforms intruding on local linear TV series, and even earlier competition from streamers in an increasingly global business conducted with social media and the emerging creator economy coming up from the rear.
The MIA Market, like festivals and conferences elsewhere, takes place against the background of an industry dealing with screens of all sizes and new value placed on original IP as storytellers find new platforms to reach audiences. MIA Market delegates will be grappling this week with producing and placing content across a range of platforms for audience reach and relevance having become the new normal in the attention economy.
Alessandro Usai, president of ANICA, or the National Association of Cinema, Audiovisual and Digital Industries, representing Italian cinemas and audiovisual industries, told market delegates European producers delivered international hits, but were too small and often conservative to sustain that track record. “Our companies are small compared to the rest of the world, the rest of Europe,” Usai insisted, as they are liable to being acquired by foreign players or cannot retain rights to original IP.
As part of a fight-back, European producers are looking to continue pooling resources and expertise to remain competitive with sustainable production strategies. The initiative is also part of a cooperation Program for the cinema and audiovisual sectors signed in June 2026 by Italian and French cultural ministers, and with an expert group meeting for the first time at the MIA conference.
Antonino Stefanucci, senior mandate manager for the European Commission, addressed a new European Investment Fund, or a digital platform giving private institutional investors direct access to European investment opportunities. The goal is to support European entertainment and media content with global potential to attract international financing.
“We always talk about culture, about our identity, the stories we tell. However, culture is not only something we value, but something with economic value,” Stefannuci told the MIA Market. He pointed to Hollywood and Korea and its K-dramas as leading the way in how cultural products can break out globally with international financing.
“We want companies that can retain intellectual property, rather than sell it to foreigners. We want European businesses that are able to fund the domestic market,” Stefannuci said. The MIA Market, continuing through Oct. 23, aims to build connections between producers and industry professionals from Italy and around the world as part of a business facing unprecedented change.