Posted 10 Feb. 2022 at 19:01Updated Feb 10. 2022 at 19:20
The overabundance of video offers is the delight of the television press on the Web. Faced with the proliferation of series and programs available on video on demand, the French are increasingly turning to sites specializing in television programs to guide their choices.
Last year, 30 million people consulted sites and applications for information on films, series and other video content each month, an increase of 16% in three years, according to Médiamétrie data. It is both the headlines of the television press, such as “Télé-Loisirs” or “Télérama”, but also websites like AlloCiné that are a hit.
“Internet Reflex”
“Most of these sites deal with video content in the broad sense and represent a response to the great appetite of Internet users for video content in a multiplicity of formats. [télévision linéaire, vidéo à la demande comme sur YouTube, vidéo à la demande par abonnement (SVoD), etc., NDLR] explains Bertrand Krug, director of the Internet department at Médiamétrie. “Before we had the weekly or the fortnightly on our coffee table, today there is the Internet reflex” to find out about the programs, continues the expert.
Guides on platform content are multiplying. Since 2019, for example, “Télérama” has introduced tables of recommendations for the best Netflix films and series and has set up guides of this type for the video offers of other platforms (OCS, Amazon Prime Video, SFR Play, etc.), recalls Catherine Sueur, president of the weekly. This title held by the Le Monde group has been profitable for many years with a profitability of around 14%, and its 2021 turnover is up on 2020.
If “Télérama” had 3 million unique visitors per month in October, its site only occupies fifth place in the ranking of Web Médiamétrie audiences, far behind “Télé-Loisirs” (21.2 million), AlloCiné (14.1 million) and “Télé 7 Jours” (7.1 million).
The health crisis has certainly passed through there. Confinements and curfews gave the French more time to spend in front of screens in 2020. A boon for linear television audiences, which have held up well, but also an accelerator for streaming uses such as Netflix. According to figures from the National Film and Moving Image Center (CNC), in the third quarter 47% of total video consumption among 18-64 year olds was video on demand, compared to 36% two years earlier.
950,000 fewer paper copies
What also represents a growth relay for the press specializing in television programs which has suffered, like the general press moreover, a continuous erosion of paper sales. According to ACPM figures, the cumulative broadcast of four historic titles specializing in television and cultural content (“Télé 7 Jours”, “Télé Z”, “Télé-Loisirs” and “Télérama”) fell by more than a quarter between 2015 and 2020, i.e. approximately 950,000 fewer copies sold.
At “Télé-Loisirs”, which last year confirmed its second place behind “Le Figaro” in the general ranking of Médiamétrie of information brands on the Web, a price revaluation strategy made it possible to “compensate to a large extent part of the circulation declines” in recent years. The title is working hard to satisfy the public’s curiosity in terms of video on demand, according to Pascale Socquet, in charge of the Women’s and TV Entertainment poles at Prisma Media, the press subsidiary of Vivendi.
“Within ‘Télé-Loisirs’, we want to continue to develop value for our Internet users who come to choose the evening program, but there is a real permeability, you watch both what is available live and on SVoD,” explains Pascale Socquet.
500 articles per month
In fact, two-thirds of Internet users who visit the “Télé-Loisirs” web pages are also subscribers to at least one streaming platform. To meet their needs, since January the editorial coverage of Netflix and similar content has been reinforced and there will now be 500 articles per month concerning SVoD on the “Télé-Loisirs” site, including a large number of prepared videos. by the editorial staff, assures Pascale Socquet. To do this, investments are in ” high increase “specifies the leader, without giving financial elements.