The French Competition Authority issues its opinion on the online video content creation sector in France

The online video content creation sector has grown exponentially in recent years. In 2024, there were almost 150,000 professional content creators. The French Competition Authority has therefore decided to examine the functioning of this sector, which raises a number of questions in terms of competition law.

This sector, which operates like a multi-sided market, brings together numerous interdependent players (content creators, talent agencies, advertisers, platforms, viewers).

It is characterized by :

• The central role of content creators in the platform business model ;
• The inevitability of using platforms, in a sector concentrated around YouTube; TikTok, Instagram and Twitch ;
• The existence of high barriers to entry, linked to network effects and the massive accumulation of content; and
• The fact that these platforms are more complementary than substitutable, which favors multihoming.

The Autorité underlines the structural dependence of creators on platforms, and the asymmetry of negotiating power, with platforms unilaterally setting revenue-sharing rules and content visibility conditions.

To remedy the situation, it makes a number of recommendations, calling on online platforms to :

• increase transparency in the implementation of revenue-sharing rules ;
• ensure the fairness of revenue-sharing conditions between content creators and platforms;
• be more transparent in the implementation of their recommendation algorithms, so that creators can better understand and predict the visibility of their content on platforms;
• mobilize sufficient human and material resources to enable creators, whatever their reputation, to find contacts who can explain the reasons for a drop in the visibility of their content, or for a moderation measure that penalizes them.

Lastly, the Authority warns of the competitive risks associated with the promotion of particularly profitable content, produced via integrated or AI-generated tools.

In this context, legal support is recommended to secure relationships between creators and platforms, and to help them understand and comply with competition law and digital regulation.

To read the opinion of the French Competition Authority