Marketplace Financing Covers Small Fraction of Australian Film Budgets

Screen Australia released an analysis on November 19, 2024, revealing that marketplace financing covers only a fraction of Australian narrative production budgets. The study examined 197 applications submitted between January 2023 and October 2025, encompassing 119 feature films and 59 adult television dramas.

The findings indicate that while marketplace contributions are a regular component of finance plans, they are insufficient to fully fund projects independently. The average marketplace contribution for feature films was 18% of the total budget, equating to $1.2 million. For adult television dramas, this figure was even lower, averaging 12% or $1.6 million per project. These figures represent the average across all projects, with individual projects experiencing significant variation.

Further breakdown of the data shows that for feature films, the average gap between the total budget and the sum of confirmed finance (including marketplace contributions) was $5.1 million. For adult television dramas, the average funding gap stood at $11.7 million. This substantial gap underscores the reliance on other forms of finance, such as producer offsets, government funding, and pre-sales, to bridge the shortfall.

The analysis also highlighted that the proportion of marketplace finance varied significantly based on the scale of the production. Larger budget films and dramas tended to attract a higher absolute dollar amount from the marketplace, but a smaller percentage of their overall budget. Conversely, smaller productions often relied more heavily on marketplace finance as a percentage of their budget, though the absolute dollar amounts were lower. This suggests that while the marketplace plays a role, it is not a primary driver for the full financing of Australian narrative productions.