Launched barely five months ago (January 8, 2024, to be exact), the free streaming platform TF1+ is preparing to embrace new horizons. From this Tuesday, June 18, it will also be available in Belgium and Luxembourg. “From the start, there was the idea of making this platform available to all French speakers in the world. Starting with our closest neighbors: the Belgians”, underlines Claire Basini, Managing Director of the TF1 group, in charge of launching the platform. “Demand through customer service was high. We know that we are already the second group in the south of the country with 18.6% audience share. TF1+ will therefore complement the linear offering by allowing you to discover all the group’s major program brands whenever you want..”
Without fear that this will reduce public interest in live programs… “The figures show us that we are growing on the shelf, in audience and in turnover, but also growing in digital. The idea is to support the uses that are developing on streaming. With people who watch both our linear channels and our platform and also reach often younger users, who naturally have the reflex to consume in streaming. Today, the two complement each other. We have a common line of programs, we invest 1 billion in our content and the idea is to have the most powerful, the most interesting, the best financed program brands to remain extremely relevant for this French-speaking audience in the long term. ”
TF1+ announces 15,000 hours of programs, i.e. “the equivalent of a Disney+ or a Paramount+. It is therefore a very extensive, extremely varied catalog: with French and foreign series, cinema, TV films and youth fiction for more than half of its content. and flow shows – entertainment (Koh-Lanta and The Voice in the lead), shows of all kinds and information – for the other half of the catalog. To this are added two categories “people And impact on all subjects linked to the planet, diversity, etc.”
Once upon a time…the Disney global empire
“Concretely, this means that 200 series are available in full, as well as 200 major popular French or European films and international blockbusters which have the particularity of being intended for a family audience”, continues Claire Basini.
New features: Synchro and Top Info
The platform will also offer a brand new feature called Synchro, currently being deployed in France, which promises “to help the public in their choices based on the individuals who are in front of their screen. In the opinion of subscribers, the main problem of the platforms is the time wasted finding the right content. It was absolutely necessary to come up with a strong solution that resembles us to resolve this problem.” The positioning of the TF1 group is truly “gather. We realized that it was extremely impactful. On average, people spend eleven minutes finding the right content and in 50% of cases, they get so fed up that they stop before even starting to watch a program.”
TF1 therefore brought together a group of around fifty expert data analysts, specialists in algorithms, to “develop a new algorithm on the market which allows, depending on the profiles installed in front of the screen, to offer, in one click, relevant content.” And to adapt to new family configurations “variable depending on the day of the week, this algorithm also allows reading to resume when the defined profile is reassembled. A recommendation model extremely popular with the users with whom TF1 has worked”notes Claire Basini.
Latest specificity of TF1+: the Top info offer which allows you to find at the end of the day, around 6 p.m., three or four news items presented in a 3 or 4 minute format. “Substantive subjects (politics, society, pop-culture, etc.) covered only on the platform, through their issues and the solutions proposed”alongside the content of the usual news events at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m., as well as reports also produced by the TF1 editorial staff.which is the largest in France”.
TF1 continues to bet on Koh-Lanta
Other developments are already planned: in September, the platform will be available in Switzerland and at the beginning of 2025, in North Africa and the Maghreb.
The objective remains the same: “unite a cultural community around our major series, our entertainment, our films, around a common language, French.” Free access should appeal to many users, even if the range of platforms is increasingly impressive. To avoid ads placed before and during programs, it will cost you €5.99 per month.
