Even with falling license fees and a bad euro-to-dollar exchange rate, European animated shows are raining down on U.S. channels.

It’s not every hip ‘n’ stitch that a European cartoon series gets broadcast in the U.S., so one has to wonder how so many are getting on the air all of a sudden, especially with license fees dropping faster than scat from a scared buck. But one can only speculate on the reasons for this recent trend, the sums paid for programs shrouded in Thuggee-like secrecy. The knee-jerk reaction would be to check the exchange rate, as of this writing, €1 = US$ 1.20909 (US$1 = €0.827069). Meaning, it’s a bad deal for the European producer because s/he produced his/her program in euros and is getting paid in dollars. In fact, a worse deal than for an American producer, who is producing in dollars.

But a good deal for U.S. buyers.

Europeans also typically produce a series (26 half-=hour episodes) in the €150-250,000 per episode range which, at the present exchange rate (approximately US$180-300,000), is a bargain basement price for U.S. executives who are used to paying anywhere from US$350-500,000 an episode for American series. (What’s more, Europeans normally produce 26-minute episodes, while Americans produce 22-minute episodes, making the “per minute” price even lower!) But, ask anyone trying to sell an animated series these days, license fees at these prices are a thing of the past unless it’s The Simpsons or Family Guy, and that’s just to keep them loyal. American networks also don’t co-produce or pre-buy European series, meaning Euro-producers are on a par with their Japanese homologues (i.e., at the mercy of the U.S. market), both in a worse position vis-à-vis American producers.

Totally Spies, bought by ABC Family, has 100+ licensees worldwide and is the second most popular show on Cartoon Network. Courtesy of Cartoon Network.

But are American and Japanese producers the competition for Europeans? Or products?

Agitprop
With the success of manga in the U.S., historically made cheaply in Japan and exploited for a fortune in the U.S., the competition for “the next best thing” from Tokyo must be rude (i.e., bidding wars for programs.) Manga may not have overstayed its welcome since it’s a genre, but it certainly must be getting expensive. And “American” animation (outsourced to Asia) has always been expensive.

Europeans are filling a void by putting a new twist on two old games: (a) they are swallowing their cultural pride, putting a Hollywood spin on their shows and marketing them to America like the Americans have done for U.S. product in Europe and around the world for ages; and (b) auto-financing, like the Japanese — and, adding insult to injury, mimicking the popular anime style of animation — to sell to the Americans at a bargain because not only is it less expensive to make in “Europe” (also outsourced to Asia, essentially the 2D) but it’s already been bought and paid for — amortized — at home through subsidies, pre-sales, co-production, sales, licensing, etc. Just like American shows sold abroad for a song for the merch revenue — the icing on the cake. Sweet!