This increase is also the result of strategies implemented over several years, including:
Investing in digital platforms to reach a young audience.
Fact-checking , which, according to Louis Dreyfus, helps to gain credibility, particularly among young people.
The development of new products, such as podcasts . In France, according gambling data asia to the Reuters Institute, 28% of the population listens to at least one podcast per month. For Bérénice Lajouanie, general manager of Pôle Les Échos, the podcast is a loss leader , allowing a new audience to be attracted. The daily podcast La Story des Échos is listened to by a more feminine and younger audience than the media's usual audience.
Digital subscriptions and advertising are not the only models of remuneration, however. Nic Newman identifies some models for funding journalism in the future, such as donations (the Guardian, for example, has 900,000 donors), native advertising, paid events (such as the Fête de l'Huma), e-commerce, crowdfunding and micropayments.
Free TV, Unite or Die?
At a time when Le Monde and Le Figaro are signing an agreement with Facebook on neighboring rights, free television must, for their part, find a way to resist the American giants. The round table "Free TV: unite or die? " brought together Gilles Pélisson, CEO of TF1, Nicolas de Tavernost, Chairman of the M6 Executive Board, and Delphine Ernotte, President of France Télévisions. The latter supports the merger project of the two private players in the face of American platforms conquering the European market. She points out that " all studies at the European level show that public and private players are dwarfs compared to American players . The 66 European public service companies weigh 30 times less in value than the 10 tech giants ." The merger of TF1 and M6 will allow them to stay in the technology and data race by uniting the platforms. For the President of France Télévisions, free television channels, whether private or public, " create common ground ", social ties, and competition is a source of creativity: a " great private champion calls for a great public service ".
Who will be the big winners of the voice economy? For audio, just like for television, the pandemic and the lockdowns of 2020 have accelerated and sometimes even revolutionized uses . The HavasParis/CSA study for the Paris Podcast Festival reveals that more and more podcasts are listened to at home, and no longer alone with headphones, but with family or friends. The French confirm that podcasts have indeed become a cultural practice anchored in their daily lives . According to the same study, podcasts are " a media that does good ": " gaining well-being ", " refocusing on oneself ", " taking a break " are all reasons for the French to regularly and increasingly concentratedly listen to native audio formats on demand (nearly 15% even say they do nothing else when they listen to a podcast). Clubhouse, the first audio social network to appear during the pandemic, is enjoying a second wind in Africa and India, where underdeveloped internet network infrastructures are conducive to the use of audio.
Is Clubhouse dead? "Far from it!" replies its co-founder @pdavison who claims that there have already been 700,000 private chat rooms opened per day since the creation of the Wave feature Live with @pierrehaski @MediasEnSeine https://t.co/y9NoDm0FF4 pic.twitter.com/VmY0IgBMuW
— Chloé Sondervorst (@sondervorst) October 12, 2021
At Spotify France , Antoine Monin observes a growing appetite for podcasts, " it has doubled in the last 12 months ". New formats have also appeared: " This year, the real audio innovation has been in documentaries , based on the model of series that are consumed passionately ", notes Katia Sanerot, general manager of the narrative podcast creation studio Louie Média. The car remains one of the key elements of the future of radio, 40% of Franceinfo listening is still done in the car. And according to Mathieu Gallet, co-founder and president of Majelan, here too, it is data that creates value to produce and choose the right format to offer at the right time. The question of monetization remains . According to Mathieu Stefani, creator of the podcast "Génération Do It Yourself", the podcast is not yet a viral format . Several business models are being tested: from advertising to tips (on Patreon or Tipeee), to subscriptions . Spotify has launched the first audio advertising marketplace, which allows advertisers to buy advertising space to connect with digital audio consumers, and more specifically podcast listeners.