Europeans who watch streaming services from Netflix, Walt Disney, Amazon and others have shown an almost insatiable appetite for Hollywood television and movies. But those streaming providers are facing new regulations that will force them to significantly increase the amount of homegrown European content on their services in the region.
The new regulations—passed by the European Commission to prevent American imports from engulfing local cultures—will require that a minimum of 30% of the movies and TV shows on streaming services in the region be European in origin. European member nations are now hashing out country-specific rules that may be even more onerous: France’s parliament, for example, just passed a 60% minimum for European content on streaming services. As the chart above shows, Disney’s Disney+ has a long way to go to meet the quota, particularly compared with Netflix and Amazon Prime.
