The Canal+ group is launching Studio+, a mobile TV service offering short form videos, this Friday.
Fifteen series will be available, for EUR4.99 euros per month without commitment, announced Dominique Delport, president of Vivendi Content.
Each series has 10 episodes of 10 minutes, and can be seen offline, making it ideal to watch while on public transport. Canal + is betting that audiences tired of television, especially young people, will be ready to subscribe to such content on mobile. Canal + subscribers will have access for EUR1.99 per month.
Canal + promises to add a new series every week, for a total of 25 original series and 25 acquisitions per year, but also some documentaries.
With a budget of around EUR35 million per year for 2016 and 2017, and series translated into six languages, Studio + also wants to expand internationally.
Studio + has already been launched in Brazil with mobile operator Telefonica, and has attracted 20,000 subscribers since October. The application should soon be available in other countries in Latin America, Europe – starting with Italy – and North America.
The application was designed by Watchever, the German video-on-demand subsidiary of the Vivendi group, which is due to close by the end of the year.
“People are used to paying on mobile, our bet is to create this reflex for the series,” said Dominique Delport, quoting the success of Gameloft, the Vivendi entity that develops mobile games, some of which are available by subscription only.
Early next year, mobile operators Orange and Bouygues Telecom will offer packages with Studio+.
