French commercial broadcaster TF1 announced it will expand its newly launched streaming service TF1+ into parts of Europe and Africa. An initial rollout will begin in June, when TF1+ will be extended into neighbouring Belgium and Luxembourg before expanding into French-speaking Africa in the next 18 months. Other territories, including Canada, are also on the roadmap.
TF1+ went live on January with 15,000 hours of available content, including 200 feature films, 200 TV movies and 200 box sets. It is not yet clear which shows will be available outside of France, where the service offers series including "Sam", "Plus Belle La Vie", "The Voice", "Koh Lanta" and acquired shows such as "Vampire Diaries".
Chief Executive Officer, Rodolphe Belmer, said to Bloomberg he plans to push into as many French speaking markets as possible to grow its base and attract advertisers: “We do not look to compensate a decline of linear TV, we want to capture a bigger market share of digital ads,” he said, going on to explain that online ads can command higher prices because they are targeted directly at consumers.
With a target advertising revenue of €15 per thousand people, TF1+ would be priced between YouTube at the lower end and Disney+ and Netflix at the top. “We want to tap the core of the market, and make a difference with bigger volume,” Belmer said.