Connected TV sets and mobile devices are increasingly popular with French viewers for watching catch-up TV.
According to a survey, published by the French film institute CNC 82.2 million video were seen on connected TV sets, 37.3 million on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) and 115.9 million on computers. The usage of smart TVs and mobile devices is on the up (see chart).
The survey is based on real-time figures supplied by the online video portal www.tv-replay.fr.
As of March 2013 there are 48,857 videos available from 56 different French channels.
Every month, an average of around 13,200 hours of new programming is being made available by the channels.
According to the figures, 59% of all the programmes broadcast between 5pm and midnight is available on a catchup service.
There is a big difference between the traditional channels (the ‘historical channels’ as the French call them, meaning the old analogue terrestrial channels), who now offer 89% of prime time programming as catchup.
Of the new DTT channels, only 44% of prime time programming is available on a replay service.
Viewers requested a total number of 2.5 billion videos during 2012, up from 1.,8 billion in 2011. On average, 6.9 videos are requested every day (compared with five million a day 9 in 2011).
The most popular genres of on-demand programming are entertainment (31.0 %), fiction (29.5 %) and information (9.0 %).
The most requested programmes are Secret Story from TF1, 20 heures (main news at 8pm) on France 2, Plus belle la vie on France 3, Bref (news headlines) Canal+, and C dans l’air from France 5 and Scènes de ménages on M6.
During 2012, French fiction attracted 45.0 % of the audience against 13.3 % for imported fiction.
67.2% of all connected users aged 15 said they watched any catchup programme, compared to 60.5% in 2011.
In 2012, 41.9% of users said they watch programmes at least once a week, against 37.5% in 2011. Daily usage remains low but increased (+1.9% to 7.9% in 2012).
34.0% said they use catchup at least once a week, 28.5% at least once a month and 29.6% less than once per month.
Most of the catchup viewing takes place during the evening hours. 49.0% of the public said watched programmes between 8pm and 10pm, while 30.2% watched between 10pm and midnight and another 23.2% between 6pm and 8pm.
The complete report can be downloaded from the CNC website (available in French only; download starts immediately with most browsers).
