On the sidelines of the first edition of the Streaming & CTV Summit on November 14, CB News gives the floor to its partners in order to better understand the dynamics at work around video consumption on the big screen. Today, 3 questions for Michèle Benzeno, general director of Webedia.
CB News: What is your definition of CTV?
Michele Benzeno : To give full meaning to the definition of connected TV, it seems essential to me to return to the profound transformation of the media industry which is in the process of completing its transformation, almost ten years after the music finished his. Just like radio and music a few years ago, television is reaching the end of its digital revolution, with an evolution in consumer habits which is also leading it to become more platform-oriented.
Beyond the TV screen, it is now a question of responding to all the demands for content carried by increasingly segmented communities and on a multitude of channels, with increasingly a prediction for delinearized consumption. For me, the definition of CTV is the one that integrates digital transformation. This is therefore the notion of One video: we are witnessing a real convergence around the TV screen.
CB News: How are you responding to these challenges?
Michele Benzeno : In 2024 and faced with this profound transformation of our industry and uses, it is essential to acquire very strong production capacity with high added value on all platforms from Tik Tok and TF1+ to Netflix, from short format to long format but also to be able to generate audiences via a hyper-distribution strategy.
This is at the heart of the Webedia Group’s strategy: all our content and formats are now imagined and designed to be multi-distributed and to exist everywhere, including internationally. Our formats are produced in collaboration with journalists, experts, producers, content creators and brands with tech and data to best understand and address communities. Our strengths are major: we have a very strong relationship with talent and multiple monetization capabilities: management, distribution, rights, licenses, etc.
This requires mastering the content-audience and revenue continuum and therefore hyper-expertise to produce and adapt formats to all the specificities of the platforms. Our ambition is to be a link between platforms and broadcasters and to accelerate the convergence between audiovisual and digital.
CB News: What news struck you the most in 2024 in terms of video streaming and CTV?
Michele Benzeno : I think that one of the highlights of the year which illustrates the convergence of screens is the success of Kaizen, the documentary film from Inox Tag, the executive production of which was carried out via our production entity IDZ. Inox is an iconic content creator, backed exclusively by Webedia since 2019. Kaizen’s distribution strategy is a world first: first in cinemas with nearly 400,000 tickets sold in 10 countries, on YouTube with 37 million views , then on TF1+ and TF1 linearly, where we obtained 22% audience share among 25-34 year olds.
It is a documentary film which has a very high “production value”, with a very cinematic spectacular side which shows that the boundaries are increasingly fine between the TV and online video worlds. This is what we see with our other productions like PopCorn, broadcast on Twitch and on all social platforms, but also available via our FAST channel. Same observation for Epicurieux, very close to the C Jamy format produced by Eléphant for France 5.
