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Star power drove viewers home in 2025, with Eva Green, Romain Duris and Vincent Cassel in “The Three Musketeers: Milady,” Guillaume Canet’s action vehicle “Ad Vitam,” and acclaimed auteur Leos Carax’s singular self-portrait “It’s Not Me” ranking among the year’s most popular French titles on broadcast and streaming.
Canet’s Netflix original topped 70 million views, while the Alexandre Dumas adaptation aired on 27 channels across nine countries. Meanwhile, Carax’s 41-minute essay — initially conceived as an exhibition piece for Paris’ Centre Pompidou — found a far wider audience, reaching viewers in 33 countries, released on two SVOD platforms.
According to 2025 figures released ahead of this year’s Unifrance Rendezvous in Paris, one-offs and feature films dominated French small-screen exports, accounting for 80.6% of titles sold internationally. Global specialty platforms Criterion Channel, Mubi, and Shudder were key drivers, together delivering 49% of all SVOD new releases, while broadcasters in Spain, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Italy emerged as the most active linear markets, with French titles making up roughly 10% of new foreign programming in each.
Traditional television remained the strongest showcase for French fare. First-time broadcasts of foreign works included 6.9% French titles, placing France third worldwide by representation. Spain led in both volume (1,836 titles) and market share (10.7%), with pay-TV and specialty channels carrying the largest slates. Streaming trailed slightly: French titles accounted for 3.8% of new international SVOD releases, ranking sixth among nationalities, with Germany and Turkey leading by volume (544 titles) and market share (9.9%). Global platforms, meanwhile, delivered roughly two-thirds of all French SVOD premieres.
Shining new light on familiar subjects also proved a winning formula for French nonfiction. Series such as “Clash of Ancient Warriors” — picked up by 15 channels across nine countries — and Arte’s “Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Open,” which has aired on 14 foreign channels, underscored the genre’s strong international appeal.
Speaking to Variety at a previous Unifrance Rendezvous, director Patrick Boudet detailed the so-called “French touch” that shaped his biographical documentary.
“Nicole is Australian, which in a way brings her closer to a European identity,” Boudet said. “I wanted to avoid a gossip-driven approach. [Instead, I wanted] to show that Nicole is not just an actor, but also an auteur, a creator. She has no ambition to write or direct, but through her films she expresses something that touches her and conveys her view of the world.
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