10/02/2016 - In 32 European countries there were 1,210.5 million viewers, with a 5.2% rise, while digitisation reached 95% of screens

From the statistics elaborated by MEDIA Salles, it emerges that in the 32 countries for which figures are already available, from Iceland to Cyprus, and from Russia to Portugal, there were 1,210.5 million spectators, with a 5.2% rise compared to the 1,151.0 million of 2014. The statistics will be presented at the Berlinale (download the tables here).

“2015 was a good year for European cinemas. The increases in admissions and the box office concerned practically all of the countries analysed by MEDIA Salles, unlike those years in which – as in 2014 – a generally positive result for Europe concealed marked differences, with some countries recording growth and other territories dips, even considerable ones,” comments Paolo Protti, president of MEDIA Salles.  

The 18 countries in Western Europe – with a total of 866.0 million admissions compared to the 816.5 in 2014 – record a 6.1% increase, whilst the 14 in Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Rim close the year with a 3.0% rise and a total of 344.5 million tickets sold compared to the 334.5 million in 2014. It is the tenth consecutive year of growth in this part of Europe, which has made it possible to more or less double the numbers of spectators in one decade. 

Exceptional increases in ticket sales are to be seen in Portugal (20.4%), in Finland (20.3%) and Denmark (15.8%). The main reason behind the exceptional increase in spectators in Finland is the excellent result not only of Hollywood films, but also of Finnish titles themselves. The latter sold 2.6 million tickets (29.5% of the overall total) bettering the record 2012 (2.4 million tickets) and thus obtaining the best results since 1970. 

The leading 5 markets also record a particularly positive result: that of Germany where, according to FFA-published data, there were 139.2 million spectators, a growth rate of 14.3% over 2014. Thanks to this leap forward, Germany regains a figure that had not been attained since 2009. The growth rate is also above average in the United Kingdom (9.2%). One of the reasons for this result (over 14 million more spectators than the previous year) is the success of “homemade” films like Suffragette [+see also:
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In Italy, the estimates elaborated by MEDIA Salles point to a 10.1% increase in box office and an 8.1% increase in admissions, with a total of 104.5 million tickets sold for screens operating at least 60 days a year. Spain, which grows by 1.2%, or below the average, nonetheless obtains its second consecutive rise after the series of negative results that had begun in 2005.

On the leading 5 Western European markets, a counter-trend is to be seen in France, which loses 1.4% of its spectators, whilst still establishing itself as the most important market in Europe, keeping well above the 200 million threshold. What weighed on these figures was the drop in the number of spectators for domestic films, compared to a truly exceptional 2014.

The Netherlands market remains basically stable (-0,2%), with between 30 and 31 million spectators ever since 2011, as does Liechtenstein, which confirms its 19 thousand spectators.

More positive signs come from Luxemburg (+15%), Switzerland (+11.3%), Greece (+9.3%) and Norway (+8.6%), all countries with an above-average growth rate for Western Europe. Less evident growth is recorded in Ireland (+5.6%), Austria (+4.9%), Sweden (+4.6%) and Iceland (+2.8%).  

Although official overall figures are not yet available, the estimate for Belgium foresees a rise. It can already be stated that Flemish films gained positive results in terms of audiences in 2015.

(Translated from Italian)