As movies face a challenging international market, sure to be discussed at te Cannes Festival, public funded-sector promotion becomes vital and one reason for a national cinema’s popularity abroad. Its focus in leaner times often gives a larger idea of industry priorities, morever, in terms of not only strategies but events.
In Spain, ICEX, the Spanish state trade and investment agency, is maintaining its role as a key internationalization partner for the country’s audiovisual industries, holding its presence across the main global markets in 2025 even as public funding falls back from the exceptional levels seen during the previous three-year cycle.
In 2025, the agency invested more than €2.26 million ($2.44 million) in the international rollout of Spanish audiovisual companies, preserving what it describes as the industry’s highest-value structural activities across film, TV, animation and videogames.
The 2025 strategy, executed under the Audiovisual from Spain umbrella, is built around three priorities: expanding international networking, increasing the visibility of Spanish companies and content, and opening financing paths through co-production. ICEX said in a statement that the aim is to deliver “real impact for companies, global visibility and business generation in priority markets.”
The backdrop is a clear funding reset. The 2022-24 period was backed by Spain’s so-called PRTR — the government’s framework for channeling E.U. Next Generation recovery funds after the pandemic — which gave ICEX an unusually strong financial base to expand activity. With that exceptional cycle now over, 2025 marked a move from expansion to consolidation.
Rather than trying to sustain the same volume of activity, ICEX has focused on preserving the actions most valued by companies and concentrating resources in markets seen as offering the highest industrial return. The agency described the 2025 model as one designed to “maintain the structural activities” while optimizing resources to “maximize impact for the business fabric.”
ICEX also said the strategy has yielded “concrete results,” citing Spain’s strong standing in animation at major international festivals, the four prizes won by Spanish developers out of eight awards handed out at GDC San Francisco, the steady presence of Spanish series in the official selection at Series Mania, and access to financing, sales agents and festival opportunities through forums such as Cannes Docs and Locarno Pro.
Across the sector’s five subsectors, the 2025 picture is one of continuity in core markets, selective expansion into new territories and tighter resource allocation.
Film keeps its core market spine
In film, ICEX maintained its international program at the Berlinale’s European Film Market, Cannes’ Marché du Film, TIFF in Toronto, Spanish Preview at Locarno Pro and Hot Docs. It also preserved higher-value co-production and visibility initiatives tied to the Berlinale Co-Production Market and Cannes Docs.
New additions in 2025 included Amsterdam’s IDFA and the Mexico-Spain Audiovisual Meetings, which generated more than 175 B2B meetings between companies from both countries. Visibility actions linked to Spanish Screenings at Málaga’s MAFIZ and the San Sebastián Festival also remained in place.
At the same time, ICEX said it is evaluating possible future expansion into China’s Golden Rooster Film Market and India’s IFFI Goa for 2026.
The film budget totaled €655,414 ($707,000), representing 57% of 2024 levels.
TV holds its ground at main international forums
In TV, ICEX kept its presence at the main international market touchpoints: Mipcom Cannes, Content Americas, Series Mania Forum, Sunny Side of the Doc, Content London and Asia TV Forum. MIP London joined that list in 2025.
Visibility actions were also deployed across several of those markets and at the Berlinale Series Market. In Spain, ICEX maintained activity at Conecta Fiction and Iberseries, with an emphasis on initiatives directly tied to business generation.
The television budget stood at €620,668 ($670,000), or 33% of 2024 spending, a drop the agency framed in part against the previous year’s inflated comparison base, when Spain’s guest-of-honor status at Mipcom significantly boosted activity.
Animation, one of Spain’s strongest calling cards
Animation remained one of the clearest pillars of the strategy. ICEX sustained its full slate of priority international markets in 2025, spanning Kidscreen Summit, Annecy’s MIFA, Cartoon Movie and Cartoon Forum.
It also added Pixelatl, in line with a broader Mexico focus, and the Ottawa International Animation Festival, where, ICEX said, Spain is “one of the countries with the strongest international presence.” Support also continued for Spain-based platforms including the Quirino Awards, Mundos Digitales and Animar BCN, alongside initiatives aimed at strengthening women’s visibility in the sector, such as Women in Animation in Annecy and Mianima in Spain.
The animation allocation came to €277,817 ($300,000), equal to 51% of 2024 levels.
Videogames retain the broadest global reach
Videogames received the largest budget line, with €684,120 ($738,000) assigned to preserving Spain’s presence at GDC, Gamescom Cologne, Tokyo Game Show, Gamescom Asia, G-Star Busan and MeetToMatch.
ICEX also added Gamescom Latam and continued exploring future openings in markets it sees as carrying strong upside, including ChinaJoy in China, Busan Indie Connect in South Korea, BitSummit in Japan and Nordic Game in Northern Europe. The games budget represented 69% of the prior year’s level.
Post-PRTR, the model shifts to consolidation
ICEX casts 2025 as a more efficiency-driven phase following the extraordinary push of 2022-24, when €20 million ($21.6 million) in PRTR funding supported 179 activities and 2,304 companies, 66% of them SMEs. In the agency’s account, the new model is built around maintaining the most useful structural actions while concentrating effort in the markets that offer the strongest returns for companies.
According to ICEX, more than 80% of participating companies rated its activities positively, while 97% said they intended to take part again. That support is set to continue into the next cycle. ICEX and Spain’s State Secretariat for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence are to maintain their backing for the sector in 2026 and 2027 through a new €2 million ($2.16 million) contribution aimed at reinforcing the internationalization and positioning of Spanish audiovisual on the world stage.
‘Where Talent Ignites’ enters a new phase
Alongside its market work, ICEX is also moving into a new phase of its international positioning strategy under the Audiovisual from Spain brand. Already underway for 2026, that effort carries close to €5 million ($5.4 million) earmarked for content production and global rollout.
ICEX said the investment responds to a country-brand logic aimed at “strengthening the visibility, recognition and competitiveness of Spanish audiovisual in the international conversation,” building on the results of the earlier campaign. In creative terms, the agency said the initiative secured more than 30 international awards and recognitions, including Cannes Lions, D&AD, Clio and Laus, while Where Talent Ignites generated more than 2.5 million paid-media impressions, 40,000 web sessions and steep social growth.
Under the new phase of the campaign, ICEX said it will roll out “three major audiovisual productions” linking the sector to strategic fields including fashion, music and habitat, alongside an international push in PR, talent and market activations. The stated goal is to reinforce the positioning of Spanish audiovisual as “a competitive industry and a global creative reference point.”
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