News item | 10/31/2023 | 14:11
Major streaming services active in the Netherlands must invest 5% of their annual turnover in Dutch audiovisual productions such as series, films and documentaries. On October 31, the Senate approved this bill by State Secretary Gunay Uslu (Culture and Media).
The law comes into effect on January 1, 2024. Thanks to the investment obligation, more money will structurally become available for making Dutch AV productions and the supply of Dutch stories on streaming services will increase.
State Secretary Uslu: “If you are successful as a streaming service on the Dutch market, you also contribute to the Dutch offering. This way, Dutch viewers and an international audience can enjoy beautiful productions from our country.”
In other European countries such as Belgium, France and Germany, measures have already been taken to allow private providers to contribute to national audiovisual productions.
The new law applies to streaming services with an annual turnover in the Netherlands of more than €10 million. This concerns, for example, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime. This is expected to result in more than €40 million in investments.
The streaming services are allowed to invest in all types of productions with the exception of sports. At least half of the amount must go to Dutch films, series and documentaries. According to the Council of Culture, it is precisely this cultural offering that must be stimulated in order to compete with the large international offering.
At least 60% of the productions must be made by an independent producer. This creates more variety in the offering and strengthens makers in the audiovisual sector: from screenwriters to directors and from camera operators to production designers.
There will be an annual overview of the types of productions in which investments are made. After 3 years, an evaluation will take place that provides insight into how the investment obligation works in practice.