Ratings Roundup: French DTT Channels

PREMIUM: The most successful shows on France’s tier of commercial digital terrestrial (DTT) channels barely top the audience threshold of 1 million viewers; only a handful of programs reached that level last Monday through Saturday (October 15-20) and most of them were American feature films.

The top DTT audience of the week on a commercial DTT network was for W9’s showing of Men in Black on Monday with 1.419 million viewers and a share of 5.4 percent. The second biggest audience was also on W9—part of the group that owns broadcast channel M6—for The Rock with 1.281 million viewers and a share of 5.4 percent last Thursday.

TF1-owned TMC’s biggest audience of the week was for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra on Monday with 1.008 million and a 4.0 percent share. TMC also topped the million mark with 90′ Enquetes (90-Minute Investigation), averaging 1.198 million and a 4.4 percent share on Tuesday. The biggest of the week on NT1, also owned by TF1, was the French police series Sœur Thérèse.com on Wednesday, with 994,000 and a share of 3.7 percent. The program aired originally on channel big brother TF1.

Radio group-owned NRJ 12’s biggest success was also a police series originally on TF1, Les Cordiers, juge et flic (The Cordiers: Judge & Cop), with 858,000 viewers and a share of 3.6 percent on Friday.

The biggest audience on Direct 8, owned by Canal Plus, was for the American feature Grease on Tuesday with 1.163 million and a share of 4.4 percent.

Children’s channel Gulli, owned by Lagardère Active, had its biggest success on Friday with the U.S. feature Dog Gone, attracting 684,000 viewers and a pretty grown-up share of 2.8 percent.

The top commercial DTT audience on Saturday was for The Simpsons on W9 with 904,000 viewers and a share of 4.1 percent. On the same evening Direct 8 showed the women’s soccer friendly between France and England, which pulled 635,000 viewers and a share of 2.9 percent. By way of comparison, market leader TF1’s averaged 8.54 million viewers and a share of 33.1 percent for the men’s World Cup qualifier between France and Spain on Tuesday—top show of the week on broadcast television.