TF1 group - Paris&Co Partnership

Boulogne-Billancourt, august 31, 2015

TF1 Group and Paris&Co launch an incubation programme for media start-ups.

The TF1 Group Innovation Division and Paris&Co are signing a partnership agreement to create an incubator for young, innovative businesses tackling the topic of "New Products and Services".

Given that digital is a powerful growth driver for TF1 and that differentiating digital services is a strategic imperative, it is crucial to continuously try out new, innovative solutions as part of a "test and learn" approach.

TF1 Group and Paris&Co are combining their expertise to launch this corporate incubation* programme. The goal for TF1 is to collaborate with young enterprises that can offer novel solutions to address the major challenges facing the group in order to develop synergies, experiment and form business partnerships with the entities of the TF1 group.

Applications will be accepted during a four-week period from 31 August to 27 September (midnight) 2015 to select the companies that will join this incubation programme. Interested businesses can apply by visiting: http://pic.agorize.com/fr/challenges/produits-et-services-tf1

The chosen start-ups will enjoy 12 months of access to a unique environment that combines the know-how of Paris&Co and the industry expertise of TF1 Group.

Olivier Abecassis, CEO of eTF1 and Director of Innovation for TF1 Group, adds: "This initiative will allow TF1 Group to forge close partnerships with innovative, agile companies, such as start-ups and SMEs, in particular by exploring new pathways. We believe in a virtuous exchange that is a win-win between the industrial approach and the start-up ecosystem, which is quick and innovative. We are pleased to team up with the Paris&Co incubation programme to identify the start-ups that can help us develop new services and products and thus develop new businesses.”

Loic Dosseur, Senior Vice-President of Paris&Co, notes that "Digital radically disrupted content production and consumption and continues to bring major changes. By creating this incubation programme in partnership with the TF1 group, we want to foster a close dialogue between everyone in the industry – historic actors and newcomers alike – to speed up the transformation and promote the emergence of innovations at the intersection between start-ups and large companies. Paris&Co is delighted that this project will be housed at Le Cargo beginning in the autumn.”

Please click here to find out more about the call for applications

About TF1 Group

TFI is an integrated communication group whose mission is to inform and entertain. TF1 Group operates the leading free television channel in France and produces a range of content adapted to all platforms. TF1 is the leading private audiovisual group in the freeview market in France. It operates four complementary freeview channels (TF1, TMC, NT1 and HD1), whose average combined audience share was 28.7% in 2014. This leadership position is bolstered by the group's adaptation to the new content consumption modes embraced by TV viewers. TF1 has developed a powerful digital platform for its television offerings to reach all audiences across all devices, both fixed and mobile. TF1 Group draws more Internet users to its online video platform MYTF1 than all other stakeholders in the French television market. The group also operates high-quality speciality channels on pay TV to meet the specific needs of TV viewers: LCI, TV Breizh, Histoire, Ushuaïa. Thanks to this top-notch offer, the TF1 Advertising Department can attract advertisers by combining the extensive audiences of its television channels with the benefits of personal digital media. It also markets advertising space on Metronews, the radio stations of Indés Radios, various TV channels outside TF1 Group and many web sites. More broadly, the group's activities span the entire value chain in the audiovisual industry, from broadcasting and film production to the publication of DVDs, on-demand videos and music CDs. TF1 Group has also created a broad range of merchandising spin-offs from its main channel: home shopping, licensing, stage production and more. Lastly, the group is committed to corporate social responsibility, which it sees as a source of competitiveness. Its initiatives are inspired by exchanges with stakeholders to ensure its actions have a lasting impact and to earn the public's trust.

About Paris&Co

Paris&Co is the economic development and innovation agency for the city of Paris. It specialises in innovation and attracting businesses to create jobs and economic value in Paris. It markets to and hosts international investors and helps promote the city's economy at the international level. Paris&Co fosters the success of the Ile-de-France innovation ecosystem by incubating young and innovative businesses, testing innovative solutions, hosting start-up events and building relationships between start-ups and major companies. Thanks to its international team of 47 employees, each year Paris&Co supports more than 300 foreign companies in establishing a presence in Paris, incubates 200 start-ups and organises over 200 business events each year.

www.parisandco.com  @Paris_and_Co 
www.incubateurs.parisandco.com  @Paris_Incub
 

*Corporate incubation: Start-up incubation involving an industry player – a large company – as a partner; in the case of TF1 Group, it is a partnership with the holding company