The CNC relaunches its support fund for content creators with 6 million euros annually

The National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC) will allocate 6 million euros per year to the influencer economy via the Creation Assistance Fund for social platforms. This fund, created in 2017 by the CNC, was suspended in the spring after a controversy. This relaunch comes after a period of crisis marked by virulent attacks against the CNC, leading to two complaints filed for death threats.

The fund was suspended after the “Ultia controversy”, in reference to this streamer sitting on the fund’s committee. His statements had raised questions about the institution's selection criteria. The CNC dismissed it, recognizing that these comments did not respect the obligation of neutrality, independence and impartiality of the commissions. To date, this fund remains the only public aid intended for content creators.

Structural reform and tightened criteria

Thanks to its new structure, the fund will be able to support projects carried out by emerging creators, via grants of 10,000 euros, as well as established creators, with checks of up to several hundred thousand euros. Until now, this aid could not exceed 30,000 or 50,000 euros per project. The evolution of the system was imposed by the lengthening of formats and the increase in production budgets, particularly under the influence of television.

In 2025, the CNC initiated a first reform. This ruled out information content, likely to “drift towards political content”, and support for creator channels, whose entire content and its evolution are difficult to guarantee. Last July, the CNC entrusted Maxime Boutron, State Councilor, with a mission aimed at developing recommendations. Two colleges, and not a single commission, were set up to select the projects. The objective was to further specialize the fund and better absorb the volume of files.

The CNC is also committed to extending its support to the sector through other future mechanisms. Among them is the creation of an “automated teller machine” intended to advance cash to authors. This system is still the subject of consultation with stakeholders in the sector.

Support deemed insufficient by the creators

Despite the relaunch and doubling of the envelope, content creators express their disappointment at what they consider to be an insufficient effort. "These amounts are anecdotal, complains Roxane Tyrbas, head of the 'April 11 collective' which was formed following the suspension of the fund and represents more than 200 influencers. It was time for public support to be more ambitious. We are far from it! Especially since the 6 million includes the 2026 envelope which had not been spent and the 3 million already planned."

Faced with these criticisms, Gaëtan Bruel, president of the CNC, insists: “This is indeed a commitment to endow the fund with 6 million euros per year”. He adds: "We are giving this fund an ambition that it has never had [...] The CNC's support for the creator economy is unprecedented in its scale. Tomorrow we will be able to give content creators the same amounts as those allocated to cinema, TV series or video games. We are taking a step forward in order to support a sector which has become structured and professionalized."

Machine-translated from French