At Annecy 2026, the CNC said 2025 brought a record 16 French-initiative animated films, even as audiovisual animation aid fell to 282 hours and executive production investment dropped to 137 M€. The split leaves broadcasters, producers and foreign backers facing a market where cinema held up better than television-driven production.
The CNC also said animation production budgets totaled 252.6 M€ in 2025, down 12.8% from 2024. Average hourly cost reached 896,600 €, down 3.2% but still the second-highest historical level. That leaves projects more expensive than in most earlier years, even after the annual retreat in activity.
Cécile Lacoue on foreign financing
Cécile Lacoue, the CNC’s statistics and forecasting director, linked the slide in foreign financing to "Depuis la fin de la crise sanitaire, les financements étrangers sont très fluctuants. Cette baisse reflète le contexte international dégradé et la contraction des commandes". Foreign contributions accounted for 19.5% of animation financing in 2025 and hit their lowest historical level.
For audiovisual animation, the contraction was sharper. Foreign investments totaled 49 M€ and fell 34%, while SMAD investment remained marginal and covered only 5 hours. French broadcasters contributed 24.8% of animation financing, and the CNC accounted for 19%.
France Télévisions and Canal+
France Télévisions moved against the wider decline. It invested 36.9 M€ in 2025, up 46.5%, and financed 167 hours after 127 hours in 2024. It accounted for nearly 60% of broadcaster contributions to audiovisual animation, which made its increase stand out against the reduction elsewhere.
Canal+ remained the leading financeur of cinema animation, while France Télévisions was one of the two regular major partners on that side of the market. Cinema animation also kept a different financing mix: foreign contributions represented 18.5%, about twice the share seen across all French films combined.
SMA decree and French films
The CNC said 16 French-initiative animated films were approved in 2025, and 10 were majority coproductions. That cinema total matters because the same year saw nearly 20% of animation costs borne by French producers, compared with 14% across all French films and about 12% from diffuseurs.
The source says modification of the SMA decree, with a new sub-quota for original production, should improve the situation in coming years. The practical issue now is whether that rule change can lift television-side investment fast enough to narrow the gap with cinema, or whether France Télévisions will keep carrying the larger share alone.
