According to a report from the CSA and the Hadopi, French subscribers to film and series platforms spend on average 15 euros per month on these platforms.
The consumption of video on demand is on the rise.
But the budget that the French devote to it remains stable.
Subscribers to video streaming platforms spend on average a little more than 15 euros per month, a stable budget in the face of an increase in offers or a variation in prices for fans of films and series, according to a report from the CSA and the Hadopi published Tuesday.
More than 22 million French people have access to a legal video platform
Since the arrival in France of Netflix in 2014, the consumption of these platforms has followed "an upward trend", accelerated by confinements and curfews linked to the Covid-19 health crisis, remind the Board of Governors of the audiovisual (CSA) and the High Authority for the Dissemination of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Hadopi).
In spring 2020, 46% of French internet users had access to at least one legal offer in their home (compared to 36% in 2019), i.e. more than 22 million French people.
The number of services available increased from 63 in 2017 to 78 in 2020, with the launch of Apple TV + in November 2019 and Disney + in April 2020. Another proof of their success, the turnover of SVOD platforms was multiplied by 10 since 2015 to reach 851 million euros in 2019, according to data from the National Cinema Center (CNC), and would exceed "1.2 billion euros in 2020".
A constant budget despite the new platforms
In the end, the average monthly expenditure of subscribers to a SVOD service amounts to just over 15 euros, with an average of 1.7 SVOD or pay television subscriptions.
According to various scenarios of multiplication of offers or variation in prices, subscribers to cinema and series offers are "not very sensitive" to such changes, with a share of subscribers and expenses varying "in small proportions". .
Proof that the fictional consumer "adapts" to "keep his budget constant", in particular thanks to the possibility of easily unsubscribing and the sharing of accounts.
"This last phenomenon deserves proper attention, to distinguish between authorized and tolerated practices and those that must be contained," said Monique Zerbib, the interim president of Hadopi, during a videoconference.
Likewise, "illegal practices vary little according to the number of offers", reflecting "growing satisfaction with legal offers", according to the report.
A new regulatory authority?
Conversely, the impact is stronger among subscribers to sports offers, with rising prices leading, for example, to a decrease in the number of subscribers but an increase in spending, the most passionate spectators being ready to put the price to follow the competitions.
"The conquest of the market will be done in number of subscribers more than in number of subscriptions per subscriber", predicted Hervé Godechot, member of the college of the CSA.
The president of the CSA, Roch-Olivier Maistre, took advantage of this joint study to recall the "relevance of the rapprochement between the CSA and Hadopi" within a new regulatory authority, Arcom, which must appear in a new audiovisual law expected "in the Council of Ministers in April" and "perhaps" in "Parliament in May".