French commercial broadcast giant TF1 is taking its streaming service international. CEO Rodolphe Belmer told Series Mania on Thursday that TF1+ will start rolling out in the middle of this year before a wider series of launches in 2025.
“We will roll out TF1+ in the French-speaking world,” Belmer said during a keynote, the first of several from the leaders of French broadcasters on the final day of the Series Mania Forum. “We’ll launch in Belgium and Luxembourg in June and then Switzerland a few months later. Then in 2025 we will launch in the [wider] French-speaking world.”
Belmer talked up TF1+, the free streaming service that the net launched in January. Outgoing M6 boss Nicolas de Tavernost similarly used his keynote to detail plans for M6+.
“The internet does not have borders and that has allowed international players to develop – Netflix, Disney+ et cetera – there is no reason for us not to do the same – reaching the French-speaking world is the next step in our development,” he said.
Belmer did not elaborate on what programming TF1 could take beyond domestic borders, which presumably requires rights clearance for anything from third parties. TF1+ has more than 200 box sets of shows such as Plus Belle La Vie and HPI, along with multiple acquisitions.
YouTube competition
Addressing TF1+’s performance on home turf, Belmer said its audience had quadrupled since launch. The TF1 leader said the goal was to take a bigger slice of the digital advertising pie given the decline of the linear ad market. “To fund content we need to develop what we do in new markets, in adjacent markets,” he said. “Video advertising represents Euro2 billion annually in France and there is 15% growth each year.”
Belmer said the competition is not just rival broadcasters, but the likes of Meta and YouTube. He estimated TF1 currently accounts for about 4% of the digital ad revenue generated in France. “We want to capture some of that market – we want to be as efficient for advertisers as YouTube,” he said.
