4
According to a study on the relationship of the French to streaming platforms, the French public would be more fond than the average of locally produced programs. Netflix would be the first to benefit from this cultural patriotism.
© Nico De Pasquale Photography – Getty Images
How attached are we to our streaming platforms? This is the question that the American company Whip Media tried to answer in a study carried out on French territory, with around 2,900 people aged 13 to 54. According to her, the results show how the French public is much more attracted by local productions than other European countries, in line with the famous “French cultural exception”.
On average, respondents subscribe to 2.7 different platforms. They are however 56% to find that the latter are too numerous, including 82% castigating this too great diversity because of the cumulated prices of these services. Half are annoyed to have to navigate between them, when 43% still have too much difficulty finding the program they are looking for. On the other hand, only 17% consider that the overall quality of these platforms and their programs is decreasing. 25% would be ready to favor a free service with advertising, when 58% are happy to pay if it avoids claims.
The French want originality
According to the study, the French public is among the most demanding in Europe. 77% of people surveyed give credit to original programs. Only voters in the UK achieve a higher percentage, at 82%. On the other hand, French viewers are only 70% interested in acquisition programs, the lowest rate among the countries compared.
Regarding the new obligations for the production and distribution of European content imposed by the European AVMS directive, 49% of respondents say they approve of this legislation. This is the highest percentage after that of Spain (53%). The Iberian Peninsula is also the region that consumes the most local programs, up to 23%, against 20% for France, 15% for Germany and 14% for Italy.
Netflix remains the darling of the public
In terms of popularity, Netflix remains the undisputed leader. 88% of respondents have a subscription to the service of the Los Gatos-based firm, compared to 63% for Prime Video, 48% for Disney+, 11% for Apple TV+ and 6% for Salto – we deliberately exclude Canal+, of which only the VOD catalog is mentioned here and which is not an SVoD platform like the others mentioned, which is not the case with OCS either. In terms of customer satisfaction, Apple TV+ is collapsing due, according to Whip Media researchers, to the total absence of French fiction on the Apple platform. In this niche, it is again Netflix that dominates with 42 French series listed.
To conclude, it is still and always Netflix that dominates when respondents are asked which service they would keep if they had to keep only one, at 76%. The others share the crumbs, Amazon and Disney+ earning only 7 and 6% respectively.
Netflix therefore has a bright future ahead of it in France, and we should see more and more locally produced programs appear with the SMAD decree promulgated last year. It will also be interesting to see if, as its boss Thomas Follin wants to believe, Salto will be able to take advantage of its status as a 100% French platform to shine (even a little) alongside the American behemoths.