EAO unveiling expanded MAVISE in Cannes

The European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) is to present an expanded version of its MAVISE database in Cannes.

Available online free of charge, MAVISE will now include information on on-demand audiovisual services, especially film VoD services, to provide users with a systematic picture of the range of European audiovisual services and their availability. It will also enable the general public to discover the legal range of on-demand services available in each European country,

Ahead of the Cannes Film Market, the EAO reported that 3,087 on-demand audiovisual services were established in European countries or received in at least one country. Of these, 447 VoD services established in the European Union offer only or mainly cinema films.

The EAO estimates that in the European Union, over 52% of the VoD services available in one country are established in another.

André Lange, head of the department for information on markets and financing at the EAO, commented: “The establishment of a database on on-demand audiovisual services in Europe is in some way Utopian. The complexity of this field is growing and the lack of transparency is rather worrying, especially as far as the precise identification of the the company providing the services and its country of establishment are concerned.

“At least a third of the identifications that we provide in the database are plausible but are in fact based on assumptions. This lack of transparency with regard to producing companies definitely does not conform to European or national transparency standards relating to publishing or media ownership.

“There is some risk involved in making these data available to the public, but we hope that service providers and distributors will be keen to help us correct any mistakes.”

MAVISE is available free of charge at mavise.obs.coe.int