France


Exclusive: Three projects that underline France’s forward-facing scripted sector

French drama is evolving rapidly, as subject matter and new business models perk the attention of international buyers. Marie-Agnès Bruneau talks to the key figures behind three recent projects to find out about this latest evolution French drama is diversifying and new genres, topics and artistic styles are opening up the scope of interested international […]

Salto chief reveals launch plans for streamer

Salto, the long-delayed French streaming offering from broadcasters France Télévisions, TF1 and M6, is to launch on June 3, according to CEO Thomas Follin. Follin told French newspaper Le Figaro that the SVOD offering would launch in test mode, enabling consumers to connect to the service. The streamer will then launch a full promotion in […]

Vive la France: Adapting to a new normal

Driven by a high volume of content – 4,873 hours in all – produced in 2017, the French TV market is moving fast: trying to preserve its cultural cachet and regulatory requirements while adapting to new challenges introduced by international and OTT players. Pascale Paoli-Lebailly reports From an international point of view, the growing number […]

Eurodata: World Cup Final reached 163m across Europe

The climax of the 2018 World Cup in Russia delivered strong figures across Europe and beyond, with 163 million watching France’s triumph over surprise finalists Croatia on Sunday. Eurodata also revealed that a growing number of online viewers tuned in on a range of devices. Not surprisingly, French viewers were gripped, with 19.3m viewers watching […]

Is this Europe’s next super-indie trio?

Mediawan has ambition and the cash, but what is the strategy? France’s newest production-distribution group has closed six takeover deals in the past year, and is now looking beyond its Gallic foundations. Pascale Paoli-Lebailly talks with co-founder Pierre-Antoine Capton about the plans to grow. By acquiring a 77% share of drama-orientated TV production group Makever […]

Just 20% of French viewers used SVOD in last year – study

The VOD360 study from Médiamétrie has shown that over the last twelve months only 20% of French viewers claimed to have used an SVOD service at least once. The study, which was conducted online from 27 December 2017 to 15 January 2018, shows that SVOD use among the 4,130 web users aged six and over […]

Ampere: France says ‘Non’ to Netflix

Netflix is yet to win “the hearts and minds” of people in France, with the French the least likely to take subscription video-on-demand services in a survey spanning 14 countries, according to Ampere Analysis. The research said that France “solidly bucks the trend” when it comes to embracing services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video […]

English Class: French drama

The rise in high-end English-language drama has seen well-financed French producers enter the space, despite the implications of Brexit and growing taste for Gallic shows “Eighty per cent of our slate is English-language,” says Odile McDonald. Nothing unusual about that statement, except it is a Canada-born, French-language drama specialist saying it. McDonald and the other […]

Médiamétrie launches French social TV ratings

French audience measurement company Médiamétrie has launched social TV ratings in France to gauge the audience and impact of programmes on social networks. The new service will analyse the nature and volume of interactions on Facebook and Twitter in order to enhance Médiamétrie‘s analysis of a show.  Each Tweet about a programme is indexed and assigned […]

SBS secures APC’s Nordic noir Valkyrien

France-based financier and distributor About Premium Content has secured a deal with SBS Australia for Nordic drama Valkyrien. SBS will air Valkyrien later this year following the show’s UK launch on Channel 4 in June, closely followed by on-demand Walter Presents, also in the UK. The series has aired on Walter Presents US. Valkyrien, made […]