lundi 3 septembre 2018

Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in the French TV guides

Editorial by the editor-in-chief of Télé 7 Jours 
(circled in red by FM)

In contrast to the United States, where almost no TV guides exist any more in paper form (cf. References, infra.), there are still more than a dozen in France . The most widespread is Télé 7 Jours (Lagardère group) and, since the end of August 2018 ("la rentrée", back to school), the weekly has just now decided to publish information about Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. According to the editor-in-chief Claude Bosie, "the cultural offering" will now include "new movies, series and documentaries aired on VOD and SVOD platforms  (Netflix, Amazon...) in the cultural section ('rubrique Culture')." Nothing less!
Although Télé 7 Jours circulation decreases little by little, from year to year, like all the TV press, it still boasts 1 million copies in 2018 (paid circulation in France, audited by ACPM), to which one must add four times more pass-along readers. This signifies high frequency readership: each issue being read many times a day, making Télé 7 Jours, as they claim on the cover, 'the most widely read weekly in France' (cf. below: left, under the logo).

This Télé 7 Jours editorial (27 August) is symbolic of the growing importance of streaming platforms in the French television market. It is becoming difficult to ignore the fact that many French household are clients of Netflix or Amazon Prime Video and watch less of the French legacy TV channels which are still the heart of the French TV guides (almost four million Netflix subscribers). To be frank, however, subscribers to these platforms will find very little information to guide their viewing selection. For the time being...

There is not much more information about these platforms in the other TV magazines (Télé Star, Télé Loisirs or Télé 2 semaines) and nothing at all in Télérama or Télé cable sat. 
Obviously, TV magazines are at loss with Netflix and Amazon Prime. They do not have much time to invent a strategy: how many of their readers subscribe to Netflix or Amazon Prime Video? Do readership surveys provide this kind of information?

Covers of some of the major French TV magazines mentioned in this post
References in MediaMediorum
Presse TV au supermarché (Star Market)
La presse télé, du guide TV au magazine TV sans programme

2 commentaires:

Corentin Durrleman a dit…

C'est justement la question qu'on est en droit de se poser. Même si l'intention de Télé 7 Jours et de quelques autres quotidiens de la presse TV est tout à fait louable en tentant de s'adapter (en vain ?) aux nouveaux médias, pas sûr que les lecteurs de ces titres de presse soient les plus adeptes de Netflix et Amazon.
Ces plateformes de sVOD semblent en effet capter une audience beaucoup plus jeune et bien différente du consommateur de programmes TV moyen.
Alors que l'audience télé en France est toujours plus vieillissante (téléspectateur moyen français âgé de 46,9 ans en 2005 vs 51,8 ans en 2017 mais 44 ans aux USA), Netflix tente de séduire les jeunes (et pas forcément les FRDA-50, cible fétiche des annonceurs TV en France) connus pour ne pas être les plus friands des hebdos TV.

On comprend aussi la stratégie de journaux papier comme Télé 7 dont les ventes (bien qu'impressionnantes : 1 million de numéros vendus chaque semaine) sont en repli (-4,2% sur un an entre 2017 et 2018) et qui doivent se moderniser en renouvelant un modèle de presse quelque peu obsolète et tenter d'attirer un nouveau public dans ses filets.
Peu convaincu...

Lucie Franco a dit…

Really accurate article: just as very few people bother to check the newspaper for movie times at their local theatre, fewer and fewer people rely on the old print version of TV guides.
Indeed, all sites with guides are free and it appears they will remain so, trying to build a sustainable business by using advertisers interested in their audience.

Also, no need to precise that now TV boxes themselves offer the option to check the guide directly on your TV screen.
And while technology keeps improving over time, the best features on online TV guides are those that are moving beyond listings and doing a good job of matching viewer’s interests and habits with programming targeted content, trying to copy the successful model of Netflix and Amazon Prime...