HD1 and Numéro 23 target 1.9% and 1% audience share by 2016
TF1's drama channel HD1 and diversity-skewed net Numéro 23 were the last among the six new French DTT HD channels to unveil their programming yesterday.
Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 20-11-2012
Starting with a €50 million budget, HD1 will line up 250 movies each year, with original films making up 15%, along with French and US TV series and short programming. The first original creations will be launched in mid-2013, and will include comedy shorts and a daily serial.
With a budget oscillating between €30-€35 million, the all-genres channel Numéro 23 points out it will offer the new US series Community, the Canadian production Lost Girl, as well as magazine formats and a weekly talk show. Numéro 23 will « highlight all forms of diversity through entertaining programmes » explained channel president Pascal Houzelot. Houzelot also founded the gay-oriented channel Pink TV a few years ago.
Set to launch on 12 December, the two channels, like their counterparts, express audience ambitions with quite limited financial means. HD1 hopes to reach 1.9% in 2016 while Numéro 23 is aiming for 1%. Comparatively, the women's channel Chérie 25 is aiming for between 0.5% and 1% , family 6Ter looks for 1.6%, while doc channel RMC Découverte aims higher at 2% in 2018, and sport TV L'Equipe HD oscillates between 1.3% and 1.4% in the short term.
According to analysts, the six new channels should globally reach around 6% or more cumulated audience share by 2015, with forecasts of 7-7.5% at the end of 2016. There is a high risk of free DTT channels installed in 2005 losing some audience points owing to this new competition, maybe more than for FTA's traditional channels like TF1 and M6.
Reply With Quote