French broadcaster TF1 Group’s live channels and on-demand content will officially be available for Netflix subscribers in France starting on Friday (June 19).
The collaboration, first announced last year, marks Netflix’s first partnership with a traditional broadcaster and a sign of accelerating consolidation between linear and streaming models in Europe.
TF1 content now available to Netflix subscribers in the territory includes hit drama series and popular local soaps, reality and competition programming, live broadcasts from the group’s local networks TF1, TMC, TFX, TF1 Series Films and 24-hour news channel LCI, plus major live sporting events like the Rugby Nations Championship and French football team matches.
Netflix is not licensing TF1 content, but instead is bringing TF1+’s service onto its platform. As such, TF1 will continue to hold rights to the content that will be geolocalised to France, and users will see TF1’s advertising when watching the content.
TF1 content already on Netflix via co-productions and past licensing deals will remain on the streamer like recent historical thriller series Summer 36 (L’Ete 36) which premiered on TF1 in May before hitting Netflix on June 1.
Netflix content, however, is not available on TF1+.
The integrated experience is designed to be “seamless and personalised” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said, allowing Netflix users to access TF1 content without having to leave the platform. TF1 livestreaming and on-demand content will incorporate Netflix features like ‘Continue Watching’, ‘My List,’ and ‘Top 10’ rows.
Peters said the TF1 partnership “brings together two strong, complementary content offerings in a world-class user experience, delivering even more entertainment value for our members in France.”
TF1 Group CEO Rodolphe Belmer added: “By combining our programming with the power of Netflix’s recommendations, we will reach new audiences together and open up new opportunities for our advertisers”.
Growing consolidation
Prime Video and France Televisions unveiled a similar carriage deal last year just after the TF1-Netflix announcement, and the French public broadcaster’s linear channels, live sports coverage and France.tv streaming platform have been available to Amazon’s streaming subscribers in the territory since July of last year.
Disney+ and ITV+ have partnered in the UK since last July with selected ITVX content available on Disney+ and vice versa.
These alliances are a sign of the growing consolidation in the industry as traditional European broadcasters and global streaming giants continue to join forces in the race to woo subscribers.
Such partnerships have been described as win-win for both local broadcasters looking to give a bump to their own streaming services via exposure on streaming giants with millions of subscribers, and the streamers who are keen on adding local content and in particular live sports coverage for a one-stop-shop entertainment model.
Netflix did not disclose the financial details of its TF1 collaboration or the timeline for how long it would be in place, but considers it to be a long-term partnership.
Netflix also did not divulge plans for similar carriage deals in nearby European territories, but said it is currently concentrating on its TF1 roll-out and is not actively looking to bring other French broadcasters onto its service for the time being.
TF1 is France’s leading local broadcaster and reaches nearly 60 million monthly viewers on its linear channels and some 38 million on TF1+ streaming service.
Netflix France has not revealed its current figures, but confirmed it had reached 10 million households in 2022 and is said to have around 13 million subscribers in the territory.
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