French Consumer TV & Video Spend to Grow for the First Time in Years

Total video entertainment consumer spend in France is expected to exceed €7 billion ($7.8 billion) this year, making it the third-largest video entertainment market in Europe, according to the latest report from Futuresource Consulting.

The digital video market in France is gaining momentum, leading to an upturn in the TV and video entertainment market for the first time in years. Overall, the French TV and video entertainment market has been sluggish compared to its major European counterparts. However, growth is on the horizon, led predominantly by Netflix driving SVOD gains. Overall, SVOD revenues are expected to hit €827 million ($918 million) this year.

“Despite the closure of CanalPlay, SVOD has started to take off in France driven by Netflix’s fantastic performance,” said Tristan Veale, market analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “They have acquired the rights to key local-language shows, which have been well received and have created a buzz around the service. From 5 million subscribers at the end of 2018, representing half the market, we are expecting their subscriber base to grow further in 2019.”

According to Futuresource’s Living with Digital consumer survey, viewing Netflix on a TV is now the dominant way to watch Netflix in France. “Over two-thirds of Netflix users now say viewing on any TV is their most preferred way, with Smart TVs, in particular, a key driver, a trend we are seeing in many other markets we survey,” added Veale.

Having multiple SVOD subscriptions is still relatively uncommon in France, with less than 40 percent of SVOD households taking more than one service. By comparison, in the U.S., SVOD households are trending toward an average of three subscriptions per household.

There has been no significant challenger to Netflix since CanalPlay exited in mid-2018. However, the competitive landscape is expected to change, as super content aggregators such as Amazon step up their activity in the country and expected new SVOD entrants such as Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO MAX and others target the French market over the next couple of years.