New streaming service Canal +: “There is room for improvement in Austria”
Jacques du Puy: True, there are already many streaming services. We are not only a streaming provider, we also produce our own content. In this way we support the film industry and also have a large catalog of content. That’s why we believe we can add value to Austria – a country that’s a bit underserved when it comes to native content. You also need some scaling. That’s why we started talks with A1. We believe that if we join forces, we have a better chance of producing something that has relevance.
Marcus Cruel: There’s a lot of competition when you look at the US market. I think there are already 7.5 streaming services per household there. If you compare that with Austria, where it’s 2.5, we have room for improvement. What we want is more localized content: from Europe, but also from Austria, to differentiate ourselves from the US-dominated offer, where you mainly see Hollywood series.
Why is a country as small as Austria interesting for Canal+ and not Germany?
You Puy: Firstly, because we have found the right partner here. And secondly, because there are already a number of strong platforms in Germany. The competition is big. You have to invest a lot and everyone tries to grow with customers. So you have to think about the right strategy. Canal+ Flexible Covers three continents: Europe, because we are originally from France, Africa and, more recently, Asia. In Europe, countries like the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and the Netherlands don’t get the full attention of other streaming companies. This means that there are completely different possibilities there.
How did the cooperation come about?
Horrible: Three or four years ago we started experimenting with our own channel A1. That’s where we learned how these things work. We have a large customer base and the network. But we quickly realized that producing content is very expensive. So we looked for a partner and definitely made the right choice with the largest media company in Europe.