The Amazing, Missing French TV Audience

Michael Hedges August 21, 2008

Television broadcasters expect measurement companies to show ever increasing audience. Without that the advertising people might just get bored. The French TV audience is shrinking. Are they distracted?

Médiamétrie, which measures every kind of audience in France, is showing a painful comparison between monthly TV reach this year and last. With the exception of April, fewer French people watched TV in each month since the first of 2008. Granted, important aspects of French life were disrupted in 2007 by sightings of President Sarkozy. And, too, France bombed out of Euro 2008 early.

As Médiamétrie measures it, the average TV watching time in July dropped 12 minutes year on year. Children, teens, housewives, everybody it seems is watching less TV. The drop in June was only 6 minutes, compared with 2007.

Blame the internet. Et VOLIA! An earlier Médiamétrie study showed that households with high speed internet (ADSL) used the ol’ TV less. Furthermore, in ADSL equipped households where TV is watched via the internet total viewing time is strikingly lower. All those wonderful choices seem not to increase TV time. Mais, oui, the French can be selective.

Fortunately for the French commercial TV channels public TV will begin reducing its advertising. This will help keep spot rates up. But the number of cable, satellite and internet television channels offered is zooming. Not a day goes by – not an hour, it seems – that yet another niche channel is offered. And then there’s mobile TV.

The UK’s media (and everything else) regulator OFCOM released its study comparing media habits in 2007 with previous years. Time spent watching hadn’t changed much in a year, still 30 minutes a day more than the French. More than half (52%) said they’d miss TV most of all ‘media activities,’ up from 44% in 2005. Young people (16 to 19 years) said they’d miss their mobile phones most.

The Beijing Olympic Games will boost the global television reach. The opening ceremonies, suggested in one report, reached one in three TV households globally. Similar figures are starting to emerge from last weekend’s viewing.

Two – and only two – strategies are emerging for television broadcasters. One is the blockbuster strategy; buy into big events, typically sports. On a cost per produced hour, rights fees included, against advertising and/or subscription revenue no dramatic series, comedy series nor reality show can compete. This is entertainment in the 21st century.

The other is the bouquet strategy, though it might also be called the ‘long-tail’ plan. Offer as many channels as possible. Technology makes offering a new channel – or ten – really inexpensive. Hire an intern to invent a new channel every day. Launch one every week. Close one every week. The great lesson from the cable and satellite business is that there’s an audience for anything and a sizeable share of viewers flip through dozens of channels, resting occasionally then moving on. This is distraction in the 21st century.

Both strategies play well in the advertising and pay-TV markets.  Blockbusters attract premium advertising rates and subscriptions. A few dozen ‘long tail’ channels can be packaged just above remnant rates and the cost is almost nil.

The great strategic non-starter is ‘quality television,’ often a talking point for politicians. It’s both an oxymoron and a prescription for financial ruin. Viewers want a little light entertainment or distraction. Try not to chase them away.