MuniWireless

The percentage of Internet users who have viewed films or TV shows using a video on demand service has almost doubled in the last five months from 4.4% to 9%, according to a study conducted by the National Center for Cinematography. I have no doubt that the increase in popularity has to do with the cheaper and faster broadband services now available (in Paris, Neuf Cegetel is offering 29.95 EUR per month for triple play, 50 Mbps) to many residents. According to a study conducted by the Centre national de la cin?©matographie (CNC) together with the Institut Novatris, two thirds of French Internet users surveyed (1500 people) in March 2007, are well acquainted with video on demand (VOD). Nine percent of them have used a VOD service (compared to 4.4% in November 2006). People can access video on demand by purchasing a limited number of hours, paying per film, or via a subscription.

At the end of March 2007, seven operators (Orange, Play Channel, TF1 Vision, Virgin Mega, Francetvod, ArteVod, Club Internet) offered approximately 1,612 films (versus 1311 films at the end of November 2006). This represents an increase of almost 23%.

Of the films made available in March 2007, 16.3% had been shown in cinemas within the last three years and 8.6% within the last year (versus, respectively, 21.1% and 11.4% in November 2006). The percentage of new films made available for VOD has actually decreased.

Of the titles made available by VOD services, French films constitute the majority (44%) versus American films (39.1%) and others (10.2%).

In March 2007, 28,9% of the programs bought or rented were recent American films, 7% were older films produced in the US. American TV shows accounted for 4%. The percentage of French films viewed is 25.4% (documentaries 6.6%, adult films 6.2%).

Users of these services state that they like VOD and intend to buy or rent 1 to 4 titles per month; the average price per transaction is 2.80 EUR.

The VOD market in France is still in its infancy. It accounted for 15 million euros in revenues in 2006 whereas the DVD/video cassette market enjoyed revenues of 1.7 billion euros.

[Source: This is a translation of an article in Le Monde. Click here to read the original.]