In a year marked once again by COVID and by the accelerating transformation in viewer behaviours, the TF1 group delivered on its ambitions in content and digital by attracting an average of 51 million viewers each week (up 700,000 year-on-year), raising its audience shares (especially among younger viewers), and increasing consumption on the MYTF1 platform.
- 33.5% share of W<50PDM[1], +1.1 pt vs 2020 – best since 2007
- 30.2% share of 25-49 year-olds, +0.3 pt vs 2020 – best since 2011
- 28.6% share of 4-14 year-olds, +1.1 pt vs 2020 – best since 2007
- 33.2% share of 15-34 year-olds, +1.2 pt vs 2020 – best since 2006
- 2.7 billion video views live and in catch-up on MYTF1, +15% vs 2020 – all-time high
Gilles Pélisson, TF1 group Chairman & CEO, says: “These remarkable performances illustrate our drive to be at the heart of French daily life with popular, must-see content made to the highest standards. They are the fruit of our editorial and digital transformation, in response to changing viewing habits. Bravo to our content, news and digital teams, who have managed to refresh themselves to reach ever wider audiences. Our mission is to positively inspire society. That’s why we will continue an ambitious content creation policy and go on expanding distribution of our content over the broadest range of channels, supporting our role in bringing people together.”
KEY FIGURES - CHANNEL BY CHANNEL
TF1
TF1 confirmed its pulling power, and increased its share among all audience segments, especially with W<50PDM (22.7%, +0.9 pt) and 25-49 year-olds (20.6%, +0.5pt), posting its best year with these two target groups since 2015, and also with 15-34 year-olds (23.5%, +1.3pt – best year since 2011). TF1 attracted the biggest audience in France for each programme genre, including the biggest audience of the year (16.4m viewers for the France-Switzerland match at the Euros football tournament).
TF1 performed particularly well in news and current affairs (12.6m viewers for President Macron’s address to the nation on 31 March) and sport. Flagship entertainment brands also delivered (9.7m viewers for Les Enfoirés), while French drama saw a resurgence (12.4m viewers for HPI – best for a French drama since 2005). TF1 clocked up 56 evenings with more than 6m viewers. The year also saw two key gambles that paid off: the arrival of Marie-Sophie Lacarrau as anchor of the lunchtime news bulletin, and our second daily soap Ici tout commence – boosting access prime time audiences, which surged to their highest level among W<50PDM and 15-34 year-olds since 2012.
LCI
LCI recorded its second-best year ever with a 1.1% audience share, with new shows attracting audience growth from September onwards, and a further boost from the December start of the run-up to next year’s presidential elections (1.3% share in December, best month of 2021).
TMC
TMC confirmed its position as the most-watched DTT channel among the general public (3.0% share), with stronger market leadership among key targets, posting all-time highs for a French DTT channel among 25-49 year-olds and W<50PDM (4.5% share, up +0.3 pt year-on-year).
TFX
TFX cemented its status as the pure entertainment channel for women viewers, achieving its biggest share of W<50PDM for 4 years at 3.4%, and confirmed its no.3 ranking among DTT channels.
TF1 SÉRIES FILMS
TF1 Séries Films saw further growth, posting an all-time high 1.9% share of individuals aged 4+, and continued to outperform among W<50PDM with a 2.6% share.
MYTF1
Innovation was a strong growth driver at MYTF1 with the launch of Streams special-interest threads and MYTF1 Max, an ad-free subscription-based HD catch-up service. Overall, 2021 was a record year with 25 million log-ins and 2.7 billion video views live and in catch-up. MYTF1 also attracted 9 of the year’s top 10 catch-up TV audiences, for shows first screened on TF1 (led by HPI and Koh Lanta).
ANALYSIS BY GENRE
NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS: MARKET LEADER WITH A COMMITMENT TO PLURALISM AND A DIVERSIFIED OFFER ON TF1, LCI AND TMC, REACHING 39.4m FRENCH VIEWERS A WEEK
On top of the year’s biggest news/current affairs audience with 12.6m viewers for President Macron’s address to the nation on 31 March, the regular bulletins and magazine shows on TF1 confirmed their market leadership with up to 11.2m viewers for the evening news and 7.5m for the lunchtime news, plus 4.9m viewers for Grands Reportages and 4.7m for Sept à Huit.
Since the start of the summer, TF1 and LCI have set the pace in coverage of the presidential election campaign, and with LCI carrying special coverage of the Greens and Republican primaries (for both of which LCI was France’s most-watched news channel). The year closed with an exclusive interview with President Macron, attracting 4.2m viewers on TF1 and LCI and over 1m views online and on the Group’s social media channels, making this the most-watched political broadcast of 2021.
TMC completes this offer with Quotidien, France’s no.1 talk show, which enjoyed a record year with 1.8m viewers and a 15% share of 25-49 year-olds and ABC1s; it was also the only talk show to top the 2m mark, with a peak audience of 2.3m.
Other highlights:
On LCI: very good performances (peak viewers shown in brackets) for 24H Pujadas (520,000), Ruth Elkrief 2022 (428,000), Brunet & Cie (288,000), Le Grand Jury (397,000), En toute franchise (577,000), and the 10pm Darius Rochebin show with Anne Seften (251,000). Not to mention string momentum for the LCI breakfast shows on weekdays (97,000) and at weekends (139,000).
On TMC: Evening documentaries, headed by Martin Weill (peak of 1.4m viewers for Tous complotistes), Julien Bellver (1.6m viewers for the 21H Medias special on 9/11) and Oprah Winfrey’s exclusive interview with Meghan and Harry (1.8m viewers).
SPORT: TF1, TMC AND TFX SHOWCASE FRANCE’S NATIONAL TEAMS
On top of the year’s biggest TV audience for the round-of-16 France-Switzerland match at the Euro finals (16.4m viewers), TF1 attracted 8 of the year’s biggest audiences with football’s Euro finals and other matches involving the French national team. TFX pulled in 1.4m viewers – its best audience of the year – for the Italy-Spain match in the Nations League.
The World Handball Championships in January 2021 attracted up to 1.6m viewers on TMC (France-Sweden semi-final) and 1.2m on TFX (France-Hungary quarter-final).
TF1, TMC and TFX screened the Women’s World Handball Championship, attracting up to 700,000 viewers on TMC and 4.3m on TF1 for the final on Sunday 19 December.
Other highlights:
Téléfoot had its best start to the season for four years, with over 900,000 viewers on average and a 14% share of individuals aged 4+. The show has been showing footage from Ligue 1 since 24 October. The Téléfoot ecosystem is smashing the internet with 77m video views in 2021, and now has 5.3m subscribers on its social media channels.
AutoMoto also had an explosive start to the year, its best for 8 years, with over 800,000 viewers and a 15% share of individuals aged 4+.
MOVIES: FRENCH AND INTERNATIONAL MOVIES TAKE PRIDE OF PLACE ON OUR CHANNELS
In a year when cinemas were again shut for many months, the TF1 group was able to showcase movies extensively across its channels.
The Sunday evening CINE DIMANCHE slot was hugely popular, with 7.5m viewers tuning in for Le sens de la fête, the biggest TV audience for a movie during 2021, followed by Jumanji and Retour chez ma mère (6.3m viewers).
Movies also fared well on our other channels, for instance 1.8m viewers for Black Panther on TMC, 1.3m for The Hitman’s Bodyguard on TFX and 1.0m for Le jour de gloire on TF1 Séries Films.
FRENCH DRAMA: MULTI-GENERATIONAL EVENT TV AT THE HEART OF OUR EDITORIAL PROJECT
French drama is at the heart of the TF1 offering. In addition to its two daily soaps, the channel devoted an extra 15 evenings to French drama, taking the total to 86. It’s also a cornerstone of schedules on TF1 Séries Films, where it garners excellent ratings.
HPI attracted the biggest French drama TV audience of 2021 (12.4m viewers), the best audience since 2005. The series also set a record for catch-up, with 2.4m viewers.
Multi-channel, multi-platform exposure (TF1, TF1 Séries Films and MYTF1) means that new drama can reach an ever broader multi-generational audience, as with La promesse (8.3m viewers), Gloria (7.3m viewers), Le remplaçant (7.3m viewers), Le saut du diable (6.9m viewers), Mensonges (6.7m viewers) and Je te promets (6.3m viewers).
On TF1, Ici Tout commence is followed by 11.5m viewers every week and has increased audience share in its time slot by 8 pts for individuals aged 4+ and 11 pts for W<50PDM and 15-34 year-olds. Demain nous appartient is followed by 11.7m viewers every week, and averages 3.6m viewers.
The two biggest audiences on TF1 Séries Films were for Commissaire Moulin (1.4m viewers) and Section de Recherches (1m viewers).
ENTERTAINMENT: UNIQUE KNOW-HOW, AND A HIGHLY DIVERSIFIED RANGE OF CONTENT ACROSS OUR CHANNELS
On TF1, evening specials such as the annual Enfoirés concert (9.7m viewers) and the Miss France contest (7,4m viewers), and flagship franchises like The Voice and Koh Lanta (6.8m viewers) or Danse avec les Stars (5m viewers), remain in excellent health, attracting very high viewing figures among target audiences. Koh Lanta la légende attracted the year’s biggest catch-up audience for any entertainment show.
Daily shows like C’est Canteloup (7.1m viewers) and Les 12 coups de midi (4.2m viewers) are clear market leaders, while Familles nombreuses upped the audience share in its time slot by 8 pts among W<50PDM and 15-34 year-olds.
TMC is successfully mining the “smartainment” niche with programmes like Burger Quiz (which returned with an audience of 1m viewers) and the new show hosted by Etienne Carbonnier, who entertained 1.9m viewers with Canap95 and 1.6m with Canap 2002.
TFX focuses on docureality shows for female and generational audiences, which attract high ratings among target groups. Examples include the access prime time shows La villa des cœurs brisés (7% share of W<50PDM, 8% of 15-34 year-olds), La bataille des couples (5% of W<50PDM and 15-34 year-olds), and the hit Mamans et célèbres (8% of W<50PDM), and in the evenings Cleaners (over 3% of W<50PDM) and Tattoo cover (4% of W<50PDM).
KIDS TV: RECORD YEAR FOR TFOU, 35% SHARE OF 4-10 YEAR-OLDS
TFOU was followed by 4.2m kids aged 4-10 this year. Miraculous World Shanghai was the most-watched show in the TFOU slot with 1.6m viewers (64% of 4-10 year-olds, 36% of W<50PDM). Paw Patrol took the year’s highest audience share among 4-10 year-olds of 77%. The year’s most successful launch was The Smurfs, with a 55% share of 4-10 year-olds and 4-14 year-olds.
INTERNATIONAL SERIES: BIG SUCCESS FOR ITALIAN SERIES DOC, EVENT STATUS FOR THE FRIENDS REUNION, AND FIRST-RUN GEMS ON TF1 SÉRIES FILMS
TF1 took a gamble with DOC, the first-ever Italian series on prime-time TV. It proved a hit with French audiences, attracting up to 5.2m viewers and a 29% share of W<50PDM on average.
The channel also provided appointment TV with the Friends anniversary reunion, watched by 4.4m viewers with a 45.4% share of W<50PDM.
Other new series that struck a chord with female viewers were Most Wanted Criminals (up to 4.1m viewers, 23% of W<50PDM) and Quiz (25% of W<50PDM), while iconic medical dramas continued to appeal: Good Doctor (30% of W<50PDM), The Resident (24% of W<50PDM) and New Amsterdam (25% of W<50PDM).
On TF1 Séries Films, TF1’s historical franchises enjoyed new prime-time exposure, with successes like New York Section Criminelle (Law and Order: Criminal Intent) – regularly the most-watched DTT show, with up to 900,000 viewers). First-run series also proved popular, including A Million Little Things (up to 300,000 viewers), The Hot Zone (up to 500,000 viewers), Killing Eve and El Embarcadero.
[1] Women aged under 50 purchasing decision makers.