We decipher
More than 10 million people have connected to it in three years via their smartphone, their computer or their connected television. Launched in July 2016, the Molotov streaming platform is experiencing a meteoric rise. To explain such a success, one of its founders, Jean-David Blanc, was invited to Culture Media on Tuesday.
According to Jean-David Blanc - also creator of AlloCiné - the continuous adaptation of the platform is one of its strengths. Molotov contains, according to him, "around thirty thousand programs available at all times and renewed every day" and provides access to more than 170 publishers and television channels.
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By launching this application, Jean-David Blanc thus responded to a request from the public, who on Molotov is "twenty years younger" than that of conventional television. "They select their programs on any screen: their smartphone, their television, their tablet and by choosing their criteria", explains Jean-David Blanc. It is possible to sort the available content by genre or theme but also to alert subjects such as football clubs or personalities.
Molotov's goal is therefore to "facilitate access to television", as Jean-David Blanc affirms. This identity has recently made it possible to add channels on Africa and the Maghreb to Molotov, which have caused many subscriptions. There too, Molotov responds to the request of "communities that live in France" and that "can access the channels of their country", assures Jean-David Blanc. The co-founder also announced the launch of Chinese and Japanese channels, after yesterday including on the platform the live channel of the studio Webedia.
As a result, Molotov experienced a 63% increase in time spent on the platform in 2019 and an 82% increase in subscription usage.
Supported by Xavier Niel
Despite this success, Molotov is expensive. "You have to integrate live streams, add metadata to find the programs easily, allow online storage", details Jean-David Blanc, who also talks about the rights paid to channels and companies. To finance the platform, Molotov relies on subscriptions from its audience since the paid channels and applications (OCS) are also on the platform. "You can subscribe to pay channels but you have to pay a distribution commission like any operator," says Jean-Louis Blanc. Another source of funding: external investments. Xavier Niel, owner of Free, has for example injected 30 million euros into the project.