Advanced Television

The jury is out for Canal+ Séries

March 13, 2019

As reported earlier this week, Canal+ has launched an OTT series offer. Subscription prices for the digital platform start at €6.99 per month for one user, €9.99 per month for 2 users, and €11.99 per month for 3 users. The offer will include 150 series which are mostly exclusive to Canal+.

In the view of analysts at investment bank Exane/BNPP the next – and supportive -stage will see the French audio-visual regulator create a favourable environment over the next year.

The bank says: “The launch of the service was expected as well as the pricing range, which is broadly in line with Netflix pricing in France (€7.99 per month for one screen, €10.99 for two screens, €13.99 for 4 screens). This follows difficulties for Canalplay to maintain its subscriber base (its subscriber base went from 800k to 200k) while the likes of Netflix capturing an increasing part of the series viewership (Netflix recently said it has reached 5 million subs in France).”

“We believe that a new offer for Canal+ series is a small positive for the company as
1) it will further monetise Canal+ exclusive content and investment and
2) we expect a supportive regulatory backdrop for Canal+ within the next 12 months (French audio-visual reform). We also believe that the “series” focused is relevant and will help Canal+ to diversify its profile, which was historically Cinema/Sport focused.”

However, the bank warns that Canal+ capability to attract and retain subscribers is yet to be proven as competition for video streaming is likely to increase this year, with the likes of Apple and Disney launching OTT offerings.

Categories: Blogs, Inside Satellite, OTT, Premium, VOD