In the current effervescence of the filming industry in Spain, it is worth mentioning the influence of cinema advertising, which has contributed significantly to its development.

The most recent data, corresponding to the 2021 financial year, give us an idea of the volume that cinema advertising sector has achieved, with more than 526 million euros being invoiced in Spain.
A sector that has grown by 36% since 2019 and where foreign clients received 39% of revenues (€207 million), while Spanish clients accounted for €319 million (61% of revenues).
“From my point of view, the influence of advertising production on the development of international shoots in Spain is enormous,” explains Adriana Piquet, general manager of the Spanish Association of Advertising Production Companies (APCP), which brings together the main advertising production companies, both those that shoot national productions and those that provide services.
“In fact, the big production companies that are offering film production services started out in the industry as advertising service companies,” she says.
“Our sector lays the foundations for agility with regard to permits, short deadlines for setting up an international production and dealing with foreign clients,” she adds.
Versatility is one of the traits that characterizes APCP's partners and is reflected in their recognized expertise in the creation of advertising content in a wide variety of formats, from animation, VFX, branded content and documentaries, and even TikTok and YouTube.

On average, a national or international production company operating in Spain made around 25 productions in 2021, a period in which more than 103,000 jobs were created.  

A fertile breeding ground
The growth experienced by the film industry in Spain has created a fertile breeding ground that facilitates the fluid movement of companies between different production sectors.
Thus, while advertising producers are increasingly involved in fiction and services, service companies produce fiction and fiction producers provide services, resulting in a continuous and ongoing flow of resources.  
This is the case of advertising service leaders such as Palma Pictures and Sur-Film, who have participated in the shooting of major international fiction titles in Spain, for example The Crown and White Lines in the case of the Balearic production company, and in the filming of Jason Bourne 5 and Fast & Furious 6 and more recently The Witcher and Foundation by the Tenerife-based company.
Other examples are Lullaby, the film that won the Golden Biznaga at the Malaga Film Festival as well as three Goya Awards, from Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, founder of the advertising production company Igloo Films, and Rich Flu, the forthcoming film from Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia (The Platform), a Spanish-Chilean co-production in which Spanish advertising film production company Mamma Team Productions and others are involved.
“I think platforms need new content and advertising creatives are being encouraged to write fiction scripts. Fiction directors usually work with advertising film production companies and synergies are created to make a back and forth, and the results are very satisfactory, with considerable success being achieved really quickly,” says Piquet.