How is Style doing in Asia?

Alex: Style HD offers 100% lifestyle programmes ranging over a variety of topics among which design & gardening, fashion & trends, gastronomy & lifestyle, travel & heritage. All the programmes are in French subtitled in English, traditional and simplified Chinese. Besides, TV5MONDE offers localised programming subtitled in 15 languages to the world’s business and cultural elite as well as the vast global community of Francophiles.

We are already present in Singapore, Thailand and a few other markets in the region. We’re in closing phases in Korea and a few others as well. We are close to launching in China which is a key market as well as a complex one. A few good OTT launches are also expected in China. Style has high quality content and I believe it is exactly what the Asian audience have been in search. It’s the TV answer to Asian craving for French lifestyle, be it fashion, food, travel or design. It’s really matching the interest of Asians.

What about its OTT offering?

Alex: We have been in the OTT environment 17 years ago without the availability of mobile or tablet platforms initially. TV5MONDE is one of the first 24/7 cable TV cultural networks worldwide. With a total of 11 channels reaching 318 million homes worldwide on all platforms and over-the-top. The platform carries all our channels in the region including Style as well as two other services which are purely digital.

The operators have no access to these services; it remains our service on the digital platform – a kids channel, news channel, catchup- TV service and VOD. It’s a fully integrated solution that is sold directly to consumers.

How are you doing in terms of revenue in Asia?

Alex: We have 25% increase year on year so well, we’re doing pretty well, both distribution and revenues have been increasing tremendously since we changed the strategy. The old strategy was to be convert into a pay-TV channel from an initial free TV channel that we used to be.

We’ve been switching over in most of the markets and it’s true that we still remain a free-to-air channel in some countries. That’s because we have actually spend more money running after pirates in these locations than collecting from the channels.

Where are you investing in Asia?

Alex: We’ve been providing digital service since the beginning. When TV5MONDE was launched in ‘96, we were already a digital channel. We launched in HD, MPEG 4 for Asia-Pacific region without passing the analogue or the digital SD Feed. For us, they’re all great markets which are saturated, and these include key markets like Japan, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. What really drives me is all those emerging markets that people are not necessarily looking at today.

We started in Mongolia in 1996. We did not wait for things to happen but rather made things happen there. We have a local rep in Bangladesh looking after the market. Bangladesh is exactly how India use to be 15 years ago. It’s a tremendously interesting market but you need to be there today. Obviously I’m also looking at the long term as well; its part of the strategy of the company.

When we decided to launch in Asia in 1996, Africa in 1992 or Latin America in 1992, we didn’t wait for the markets to boom. If we waited, the big players with deep pockets would have taken away the opportunities. It worked very well when our first market in the region, India started. We’ve been in India for a very long time and people are used to the content.

We offer something different and despite the fact that there are 20 different official languages in India, without counting all the dialects which are spoken by the few millions of people. French is not anywhere near this picture. However, there is a growing interest through subtitling in English and providing different offers to fulfil the people.

The take up has been great from the beginning but once again, we didn’t start the same way we did, compared to most players who would have started with Mumbai or Delhi. I started from Kerala which is the most literate place in India. As my channel is in French, I expect people to be able to read the subtitle and hence, I need to go into a literate state where people are able to read.

Where else are you looking at in Asia?

Alex: We are nearly everywhere except in Malaysia due to regulatory issue. Censorship is one of the main issues. We fear the flavour of the channel will dilute if we edited further. We’re here to promote certain values and cultures and if we cannot accept it ourselves, it is deemed unfit for certain audience. Malaysia is still in discussion.

Our main hub is Hong Kong and we aim to control everything in Asia from here. It is an extension of Paris. Hong Kong is also capable of controlling the rest of the world when Paris is sleeping. We have a full suite of backend equipment established in Hong Kong which is a duplication of what we have in Paris. This is also due to a cyber attack that we encountered in 2015. So, the Asia office in Hong Kong acts as a back-up for Paris to support the rest of the world.