American streaming platforms have contacted the Council of State to oppose the new obligation to direct part of their investments towards animation, documentaries and live shows.
Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video each filed an appeal with the Council of State at the end of June to oppose their new obligations to finance French creation. This approach follows a modification of the decree known as on-demand audiovisual media services (Smad), published in the Official Journal on December 31, 2025, which now requires these platforms to reserve a portion of their investments for specific sectors of creation.
New signage imposed
Since 2021, the Smad decree has required streaming services to devote 20% to 25% of their net turnover generated in France to financing French works, in cinema and audiovisual. Until now, most of this money has been directed towards series production. The modification of the decree now specifies that Netflix, Disney+ and others must reserve 20% of their obligatory contributions towards documentaries, live shows and animation.
“The State has drawn the consequences from the fact that these actors did not play the game of the Smad decree, which provided that investment should not only go towards fiction,” notes Stéphane Le Bars, general delegate of AnimFrance.
French animation is going through a major crisis since streaming services have, post-Covid, sharply reduced their orders for cartoons, while French television channels have had to deal with the decline in their advertising revenue or their public funding. In 2023 and 2024, streaming services have dedicated 90% of their investments in animation towards catalog repurchase. To respond to this situation, the new decree requires 75% of investments to be devoted to new works.
American platforms denounce constraints considered excessive. “We contest this decree because it imposes disproportionate constraints,” an Amazon spokesperson told Le Figaro. “Prime Video contributes significantly and growing to the financing of creative production in France. Adding new constraints, when the obligations provided for by the Smad decree are already the heaviest in the European Union, risks weakening this positive dynamic rather than strengthening it.” A Disney spokeswoman added: “This decree poses a problem for us from an editorial point of view because it imposes investment choices on us that we might not have made.” Netflix follows the same argument: “These new rules end up directing our editorial offering without taking into account the expectations of the public,” argues Pauline Dauvin, vice-president of Netflix France, in Le Monde.
Netflix also warns of the fact that, if the French audiovisual groups continue to see their advertising revenue and public funding decline, “the weight of American streaming services in the financing of French creation could” reach “up to almost 50% by 2030”.
Already substantial investments
The platforms highlight their current financial commitments. Netflix today devotes 250 million euros per year to French creation. Prime Video signed a commitment with Arcom in May to increase from 40 million to 90 million euros per year (and 110 million if it obtains the right to broadcast a film it has financed in less than 12 months). Disney’s contribution increased in 2025 from 13 million to 40 million euros.
Until now, sectoral agreements have governed the direction of investments: Netflix has committed to the inter-professional association in 2023 to direct 5% of its investments towards animation and 5% towards documentaries, an agreement which will expire at the end of the year. Amazon has also signed an agreement until the end of 2026, which includes 5% investment earmarked for animation, 5% for documentaries and 3% for shows. That of Disney+, which expires at the end of 2027, provides 12% for animation and 5% for documentaries.
The new decree comes in a context where, according to Arcom, a quarter of children watch their cartoons on streaming services. The platforms are pleading for a cap on their investment envelope, which increases mechanically as the service gains in popularity.
The media timeline also remains a point of tension. Disney has obtained the right to broadcast the French films it finances on Disney+ within 9 months, compared to 17 months for its two rivals. Appeals were filed in 2025 with the Council of State, which has not yet decided.
