In March 2017, the CNC (National Centre of Cinema and Animated Image) published a study about the catchup TV economy in 2016. Here are the key elements of this study.
The catchup offer
Catchup (or replay) consists in all the services allowing to watch TV programs after their broadcast on air. Although replay started only 10 years ago, 120 TV channels offer this service today. It represents an opportunity to rejuvenate linear TV. Catchup quality has evolved a lot since its creation: less time between the broadcasting and the catchup accessibility, a longer availability, personalized offers…
Today, 60% of the programs broadcasted on the free national channels between 5pm and midnight are replay ready. The catchup offer has increased by 20% since 2015, reaching 20,597 hours of available programs.
Moreover, supply has adapted to demand since programs are replay available for longer: 20% only are in catchup less than a week and 72% more than 30 days (it has increased 9 points since 2015).
The replay consumption
It exists on all devices (TV, computer, smartphone and tablet) and is measured by the number of watched videos. Catchup consumption has increased by 27% in a year, going from 5.1 billion videos viewed to 6.5 billion.
Online TV consumption (replay, bonuses and live TV) has augmented too, increasing by 29%. This evolution concerns all devices, but the biggest increase concerns mobile screens (tablets and smartphones). They have become the most used device for online TV consumption with about 40% of watched videos
As for audiences, TV channels’ most successful recurring (daily or weekly) and youth-oriented programs dominate.
The catchup audience
Replay is developing in France: in 2016 it concerned 80% of web users (compared to 73% in 2015). Moreover, catchup TV is used more and more regularly since 55% of French people used it at least once a week in 2016, compared to 48% in 2015. Occasional users are becoming rarer since they went from 25% in 2015 to 18% in 2016.
Regarding the devices used for catchup, TV sets remain the main choice: 76% of users use it, (49% for computers and 25% for mobile devices). However, big differences can be seen between ages: computer is the main device for people under 25. With mobile phones, differences are even bigger: 1 out of 3 of 15-24 years olds uses them to watch replay, while only 4% of 50+ year olds do!
Catchup revenues
Since replay is usually free or included in the subscription fee, it only generates revenues thanks to advertising. The total revenue was around 105 billion euros in 2016 (90 billion in 2015).
Click here to read the whole study.
