TF1 GROUP LAUNCHES ITS NEW FREE STREAMING PLATFORM: TF1+

Boulogne-Billancourt, 20 December – TF1 is due to launch TF1+, France’s first-ever free streaming platform, on 8 January 2024. The launch is the latest phase in our digital acceleration strategy.

Our new platform reflects the new ways in which video content is consumed, and offers French viewers a one-stop news and entertainment destination with a premium offer of popular, family-friendly programmes.

Available on 4 screens (TV, PC, smartphone and tablet), TF1+ is accessible via boxes (Orange, Bouygues Telecom, and from March 2024 SFR) and virtually all Smart TVs (Google TV, Android TV, Samsung, LG, Philips, Hisense, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, etc).

Extended rights, box sets, 15,000 hours of content... a catalogue of premium programmes available free of charge

To reach everyone, TF1+ gives users access 24/7 to a rich and diverse offer of more than 15,000 hours of news and entertainment. The platform will allow unrestricted viewing of 200 feature films, 200 TV movies and 200 box sets, including such iconic French series as HPI and Sam, plus daily soaps and foreign series like Vampire Diaries. Not to mention, of course, our blockbuster entertainment brands (like The Voice and Koh-Lanta), in full and unedited. TF1+ will also invite users to explore the universe of flagship shows like Star Academy, Quotidien and Plus belle la vie by offering interactive, immersive experiences with exclusive content. Kids and young adults will also be catered for with 50 unforgettable brands like Pat Patrouille, Miraculous and Naruto. The offer will be complemented by around 50 FAST special-interest channels with strong themes, from rom-coms and thrillers to comedy, manga and even Christmas movies.

And in another innovation, TF1+ will be the first streaming platform to offer exclusive news coverage tailored to on-demand consumption: TOP INFO, featuring five 3-6 minute segments a day put together by our news teams as a deep dive into the day’s main breaking news stories. Finally, the platform will enjoy extended rights with content available for at least 30 days, and in some cases for as long as 48 months.

TF1+ offers pioneering innovations never before seen in the free streaming space

TF1+ is engineered to align on what consumers really want: ergonomically designed for simple and intuitive browsing, plus more heavily editorialised content and personalised recommendations. The platform builds in all-new functionalities to deliver a novel user experience, including “TOP CHRONO” and “SYNCHRO”. Hugely popular during the Rugby World Cup, our exclusive, ground-breaking TOP CHRONO functionality is to become a regular feature. Viewers can choose real-time post-match highlights packages, selected using artificial intelligence, and lasting for 5, 10 or 15 minutes depending on how long they want to watch. Meanwhile, SYNCHRO is our novel way to end the hours wasted looking for programmes that people can watch together. A global first, Synchro tackles one of the biggest challenges on streaming platforms: programme selection. Available from March 2024, this is the first content search engine in the world developed specifically to facilitate co-viewing. This new algorithm will offer users a selection of programmes suitable for co-viewing, tailored to the profile of the people looking at the screen. It will also enable viewers to resume watching from the point where they stopped – a first in streaming.

TF1+ is available on all screens and connected TVs

To make our streaming platform accessible immediately to as many people as possible, we have negotiated strategic partnerships to secure priority referencing for TF1+ on all connected screens. TF1+ will appear on the first screen, alongside SVOD platforms, on the home pages of Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR boxes, and on the interfaces of connected devices and TV sets including Google TV, Samsung, LG, Philips, Hisense and Amazon Fire TV. And from April, Hisense Generation 2024 connected TVs will have a TF1+ button built into the remote control. An ad-free “TF1+ Premium” service will also be available on all interfaces, for €5.99 a month or €59.99 a year.

Rodolphe Belmer, TF1 group Chairman & CEO: “Over the last few months, we’ve put all our energy and resources into fulfilling our ambition to become French no.1 in free streaming. TF1+ marks an acceleration in the evolving TF1 group business model, and a turning point in digital innovation. We’re so proud to be able to offer French viewers their first-ever free streaming platform, an all-new experience that delivers what all our users want. This is an exciting time for the industry. Consumption of on-demand content is on a constant uptrend, and the take-up of Smart TV among French households is accelerating. Launching TF1+ strengthens our position in the online video market, with a unique value proposition for both viewers and advertisers.”

Claire Basini, TF1 group Executive Vice President B2C: “The launch of TF1+ shows that we intend to buy in fully to the new and fast-changing ways in which people consume video content. We engineered the platform so it will become a daily ritual in people’s lives: the go-to destination for family entertainment and news. From the outset, TF1+ will break new ground, in terms of both content and innovation. General-interest programming backed up by a deep catalogue of premium content, plus a personalised, editorialised and intuitive user experience: TF1+ will deliver everything that every user wants. And by building in a world-first smart recommendation function adapted for co-viewing, TF1+ solves the big challenge in our market: how to find the right programme for people to watch together, and fast. And TF1+ does all that free of charge!”