International sales of French television programmes fell to €164.2 million in 2025, down 21.6% on 2024's €209.6 million and the lowest total in a decade, according to figures from Unifrance and the CNC presented at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Le Havre. The collapse reflects a "perfect storm" for French distributors: falling TV advertising revenue has left broadcasters with less money to commission or acquire programmes, buyers are increasingly risk-averse amid market uncertainty, and growth in SVOD and AVOD sales has failed to offset the losses from traditional deals.

Breaking down the figures, co-production investment fell 18.7% to €87.7 million, while international pre-sales dropped 59.3% to €30.7 million. Drama exports fell 27% to €54.9 million, their first double-digit decline since 2018, and animation sales slumped 30.3% to €32.2 million, continuing a downturn since 2020; documentaries proved more resilient, slipping just 2.7% to €43.1 million. Western Europe remains the biggest market for French content, followed by North America, while sales to Asia and Latin America hit record lows. Unifrance president Gilles Pélisson also called for greater transparency from streaming platforms, whose sales data is not included in the figures, warning that without it French producers cannot properly value or finance new content.