With TF1+, the TF1 group is undertaking one of the most important shifts in the French audiovisual landscape. For the first time, TF1 is abandoning its “catch-up strategy” in favor of a real streaming offer, designed to respond to the “irreversible” evolution of habits. Behind the financial opportunity lies a real new way of addressing viewers.
Tou Dou Doum. Every time they open the TF1+ application, French people will hear a little musical jingle. A new feature compared to myTF1, the digital platform currently offered by the eponymous group. To tell the truth, TF1+ and myTF1 do not have the same philosophy at all. Even if they share most of their programs, one presents itself as a real streaming service, which imagines itself at the table of Netflix and Disney +, the other is a catch-up service, which is more opposed to france.tv or 6play.
On December 20, during a major press conference, the TF1 group presented its new streaming strategy to journalists. For the first time and despite its very good results on the linear market, TF1 opens the door to an “irreversible” evolution in the audiovisual consumption of the French, more and more of whom are abandoning live television. TF1+ is the solution to this problem, to make TF1 a streaming giant, a little less than a year after abandoning Salto to go its own way.
TF1 notes the evolution of TV
TF1 makes no secret of it, it has a long way to go. Per month, French people spend an average of three hours on myTF1. It’s a lot, but too little compared to the more than 20 hours spent on Netflix or YouTube. Available human brain time, as TF1 itself theorized in 2004, has shifted to the Americans’ camp.
Today, TF1 is a television group. Tomorrow he wants to be a “group in the digital era”. If audiences still position it among the biggest players in France (it captures almost half of television advertising revenue), TF1 says it is aware that the habits of the French are changing. Particularly at issue: connected televisions increasingly present in homes. According to its estimates, half of 25-49 year olds will only consume SVOD by 2027. Today, only 35% of this population has abandoned linear TV.
For Claire Basini, deputy general director BtoC of TF1, “this technological movement is irreversible “. Clearly, TF1 has two options: close its eyes and bet everything on linear TV, becoming its main player (its future is not threatened today), or diversify into streaming, to prepare for the future and become an actor of the present.
TF1+ must become “a daily reflex”
This is how TF1+ was born, whose name is inspired by Disney+, Paramount+ or Apple TV+. Rodolphe Bolmer, the boss of TF1, notes that the television market today shares 3.3 billion euros in advertising revenue. In the world of streaming, there is now a jackpot of 2 billion euros to share, which is likely to increase in the future. Why leave it to YouTube, Netflix, Disney+ or Prime, when the French may want to watch their favorite fiction in streaming, like More beautiful life back in January? “All the players do the same analysis as us.”
On TF1+, which takes the form of a real streaming application with an interface similar to Netflix, the French will be able to create user profiles. Special feature of the platform: the possibility of selecting several profiles at the same time, to obtain suggestions adapted to everyone. TF1+ wants to become a “daily reflex”, just like Netflix or YouTube, for French people looking for content to watch. The programs will be available for 48 months with series, films, entertainment and shows. TF1+ also wants to experiment with a streaming shift in news, with social content produced by TF1 journalists in the application.
Another idea from TF1: an enriched live. In addition to the group’s 5 DTT channels, 50 thematic streams will be offered live, to watch playlists of your favorite programs without having to choose. Top Chrono, a new feature adapted to sports broadcast by TF1, will allow you to generate a personalized summary of a match of the duration of your choice.
The price of TF1+? 0 euros. TF1’s approach is to offer the largest free streaming platform in Europe, entirely financed by advertising. You will obviously have to register, which will allow TF1 to learn about you to personalize its advertisements. For the audiovisual group, this is the assurance of increasing its revenue per user. For people who hate advertising, a paid version, called TF1+ Premium, will also be offered at a price of 5.99 euros per month. But this is not what TF1 wants to highlight.
Can TF1+ succeed in its bet, by becoming an application in which users looking for a program skip? When it launches on January 8, it will be available on most connected boxes, in addition to Orange and Bouygues decoders. SFR will arrive later, while Free seems to have decided not to give TF1 a boost (its Android TV boxes should be able to install the application). TF1 seems to have done things well, but people still need to want to give space to its application.
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