Audience ratings - The four free channels - Year 2015

Boulogne-Billancourt, January 11, 2016

2015 AUDIENCE RATINGS:

TF1 CONFIRMS ITS UNIQUE POSITION IN THE BROADCAST LANDSCAPE WITH 21.4%

TF1 SEES THE GREATEST TELEVISION INCREASE IN THE LAST QUARTER

BEST YEAR FOR THE ASCENDING DTT CLUSTER

As Nonce Paolini, CEO of the TF1 Group, observes, “In a competitive world of 25 channels, the TF1 Group’s audience numbers remain very strong. Its four free channels are high-performance vectors for addressing audiences of all kinds and remaining the leader in all program genres. I am particularly pleased that, in 2016, LCI is at last a part of our channel portfolio, providing an additional news source that is independent and different, a boon to the principle of broadcast diversity.”

Over the course of the year, the TF1 Group implemented a multi-channel and multi-screen policy to maintain a leading position in the French media landscape with a 27.7% share and to be the leading broadcast group for the key advertising target of WPDM<50, with a 32% share.

A leader in the audiovisual landscape, with a unique position that makes it Europe’s top private channel, TF1 confirmed its status as a premium and event channel with shares of 21.4% and 23.4% of WPDM<50.

TF1 boasts 98 of the year’s 100 best audiences (up 3 over 2014). TF1 also saw very strong growth in the last quarter, with a 0.3 pt. share increase, the biggest jump in television between September and December.

TMC, NT1, and HD1 have been part of a strong momentum of growth and saw their best year with shares of 6.3% and 8.6% of WPDM<50. TMC had the second-best DTT audience of the year and placed 29 shows in the DTT Top 100, achieving the second-highest growth. NT1 broke into the DTT Top rankings with eight shows (up 5 over 2014). HD1 gained 0.3 share points in one year and placed 34 shows in the HD DTT TOP 50.

The year 2015 also saw an overhaul of the Group’s digital platform, which now brings together, under the single brand MYTF1, the four-channel offer. This revamp has led to strong performance increases, as consumption of the Group’s programs on TV boxes, which have become the leading replay screen, increased by 43% in one year.

TF1: A UNIQUE POSITION IN THE BROADCAST LANDSCAPE

With a 21.4% share, TF1 is Europe’s number one private channel.

TF1’s leadership is even more significant on high-value time slots: a 34.4% share between noon and 2:00 p.m. and a 22.3% share between 6:00 p.m. and midnight.

In the evening, TF1’s leadership rate is 88%. The channel also, once again, demonstrated its unique ability to draw audiences, being the only one to attract more than 8M viewers across all programming genres and racking up 98 of the year’s 100 best audiences.

The year’s highlights include exceptional numbers generated by the Rugby World Cup, a very strong news lineup, with news programs leading in every single case. TF1 news made a superb showing in covering current events and election nights. TF1 has distinguished itself with a record year for French drama and by its ability to draw very high audience ratings across all genres, proof of a very powerful and balanced programming lineup (see Top 100)

BEST YEAR FOR THE ASCENDING DTT CLUSTER

The multi-channel strategy is bearing fruit, as reflected in a strong increase in the TMC/NT1/HD1 offer,
which achieved record numbers:

6.3% share for ages 4 and up (up 0.4 pt. over last year)
8.6% share of WPDM< 50 (up 0.9 pt. over last year)
7.4% share of 25-49s (up 0.5 pt. over last year).

TMC

TMC confirmed its position as a first-rate DTT channel with a 3.1% share, 3.4% with 24-49s, and 3.6% with WPDM<50.

TMC saw its two best audiences ever with 3.3M viewers for the semifinal of the Handball World Championship and 2.3M for broadcast of the film Oblivion (9.4% share).

TMC is the country’s fifth-ranked channel and evening* DTT leader with:

its movie selection: 10 films with more than 1.5M viewers
its current affairs program and documentary offer, with the 3 best DTT ratings: 1.3M for Dans les coulisses du zoo de Beauval, 1.2M for Il était une fois...Renaud and 1.1M for 90' enquêtes
family entertainment: 1.1M for the Stars 80 and Les Prêtres concerts, 1M for Sur la route des Enfoirés
premium foreign series: up to 1.1M for the final season of Downton Abbey, and for the broadcasts of top-draw franchises CSI: NY and CSI: Miami.

Lastly, TMC had a record year with French drama and is the DTT channel most invested in this genre: all-time record for Season 10 of Mystères de l'amour with 644,000 viewers and a 7% share of WPDM<50.

(*9pm-11pm time slot)

NT1

2015 was a year of record growth for NT1 (2% share), demonstrating its successful positioning as a channel drawing young people and women, with a 3.2% share of WPDM<50 (up 0.5 pt.in one year) and 15-34s, a target group in which NT1 saw the strongest television growth over one year.

The acceleration of NT1 is even more pronounced in high-value time slots: between 5:00 p.m. and midnight, NT1 racked up the highest television growth among WPDM<50 (up 0.7 share points to 3.4%) and 15-34s (up 0.9 share points to 3.5%).

With Secret Story, NT1 has established itself as a leading DTT channel in access and leading national channel among 15-24s: up to 1M viewers and a 24% share of 15-24s.

In prime time, the channel has solid performance with:

Docu-reality and current affair programming: up to 900,000 viewers for Super Nanny, 600,000 viewers for Pascal le grand frère and Chroniques criminelles.

The movie lineup: with new releases like Hotel Transylvania (1.6M viewers – the channel’s best audience), Percy Jackson (1.3M) and flagship franchises Men in Black and Jurassic Park (1.5M).

The channel has also continued to offer its US series with great success: Grey’s Anatomy (up to a 10.9% share of WPDM<50 and 13.8% of 15-34s), Gossip Girl (up to a 11.5% share of WPDM<50 and 15% of 15-34s).

HD1

The channel for movies, series, and drama has seen non-stop growth since it was first created, reaching 1.2% and 1.4% shares of 25-49s (up 0.3 pt.in one year). The progress is even more impressive with WPDM<50, with a 1.8% share (up 0.5 pt.in one year).

Easily the evening HD DTT leader, HD1 achieved the strongest increases in this sector, an increase of 50% in its share and an average of 340,000 viewers.

34 shows in the HD DTT TOP 50:

A strong showing in French drama, with more than a third of its programs in the top shows
5 of the 10 best audiences for Section de Recherches (up to 820,000 viewers)
7 of the 10 best movie audiences in HD DTT: up to 800,000 viewers for the first-time broadcast of the film The Descendants
Success with new foreign dramas, including Stephen King’s La maison sur le lac (Bag of Bones) and 755,000 viewers.

(*9pm-11pm time slot)

Sources: Mediamat / Médiamétrie