“We are quite open to offering even lower prices, with advertising, to give the consumer choice. » This little sentence released by the CEO of Netflix on April 19 is not trivial. Certainly, Reed Hastings sought above all, in this conference of analysts, to reassure the market, after having for the first time announced losses of subscribers: 200,000 in the first quarter and two million expected in the second. But this inflection has a wider scope, because the world leader in online video subscription had always refused to insert advertisements between its films and its series. This change of foot is even symbolic of an evolution of digital platforms, which have come to shake up the audiovisual sector: they imitate traditional television channels, by borrowing from their model. As Mr. Hastings noted, the services Hulu and HBO Max already offer cheaper subscriptions with advertising, and Disney+ announced in early March that it would join the movement, by “end of 2022”.
Prime video: reality TV and live sports
Beyond this partial conversion to the economic model of free channels like TF1 and M6, or even paying with advertising like Canal+, new entrants are venturing more on their preferred type of programs. They are not limited to series and films. wanting “the best entertainment experience for all French people”, Prime Video dreams of mainstream television: Amazon’s service offers programs typical of the big channels (reality TV, with “LOL: who laughs comes out!”, urban adventure games, with “Celebrity Hunted”) and also live sport, with Ligue 1 football or Roland-Garros. It even launched, in March, in prime time live with the evening of the Country Music Awards in the United States.
More fiction-oriented, Netflix has also launched numerous games and shows (“Ultimate Beastmaster”, “High Voltage Seduction”) and is thinking about live programs, for example for an evening of comedy show or debriefing with the actors of the series. Selling Sunset… In the same spirit, Disney + paid, in early April, “Dancing with the stars”, which had been broadcast for sixteen years in the United States on the ABC channel. As for Apple TV+, in addition to its programs such as Oprah Winfrey’s talk show, the service announced in early March that it will broadcast two baseball games in the United States on Fridays. Even Netflix has changed its tune on live sports: “We are not saying that we will never broadcast it” and “today we would look at formula 1 rights”, its leaders recently said.
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