If Americans are fond of connected television, this technology that allows you to go through television to access Internet services, the French prefer their box.

A quick glance at the homepage of Adexchanger, Digiday and other Anglo-Saxon media specializing in digital advertising reveals this. Our counterparts across the Atlantic have nothing but CTV, a three-letter acronym that refers to a market of nearly $11.36 billion in advertising investment in the United States in 2021, according to eMarketer. But what is CTV, concretely? "It is first of all a device, television, which is connected to the Internet and allows access to television content in streaming or over-the-top (OTT)", answers Sébastien Robin, independent expert on all topics related to digital TV advertising. The user accesses an application portal via a button on the remote control. Services are offered there by default, if they have entered into an agreement with the manufacturer of the television concerned and the others are available for download from the store. Among the most popular are Youtube and Netflix of course, but also Disney+, Prime Video, MyCanal, Pluto TV or Molotov. So many players who offer video content for free or via a subscription.

Connected TV is therefore a device, the smart TV, which can connect to the Internet… But it's not just that. There are also game consoles, such as the Xbox or the PS5, which also provide access to the main video-on-demand services on the market, and sticks, such as Google's Chromecast or Amazon's Fire TV and Android TV boxes. , which you can connect to your television to do the same. So much for the definition. What about uses? In France, it's rather vague! Sébastien Robin, consultant specializing in digital TV advertising, refers to the number of smart TVs sold today in France. "It is estimated that 95% of televisions sold, or between 4.5 and 5 million televisions per year, are connected TVs", he figures. Difficult for the expert to tell us more… Because if we do not lack data on the number of households equipped with a television set that can connect to the Internet, we have on the other hand less information on those who do. really do.

It is necessary, in fact, to go to search in the Observatory of the audio-visual carried out every six months by the CSA, to find some figures. We learn that 81% of households equipped with a TV did indeed have a connected television in the second half of 2020. But we also learn that the vast majority go through the interface of the box to consume replay or VOD content via IPTV. 81% of households equipped with a connected TV were in this scenario. They were twice as numerous, ie 40%, to say that they used their Smart TV interface and the HBBTV protocol. A percentage up over two years (+ 7 points) but which therefore remains well below what we see in the United States, where the ratio exceeds 80%, according to eMarketer. "The French may be more and more often equipped with a smart TV, they continue to use, out of habit, the portal of their operator to watch television or download the applications of their favorite video services", sums up Emmanuel Crego , CEO of the agency Values ​​Media.

Another one of those cultural exceptions that France is so fond of. "Telecom operators have a stranglehold on access to television that we don't see anywhere else," observes Sébastien Robin. A stranglehold that dates back a good twenty years, when Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFT, under the impetus of the newcomer Free, began to offer triple-play offers (Internet, television and telephone) at rather affordable prices. , between 30 and 50 euros per month. Offers that they have been able to enrich over the years, whether to add replay of the main free channels and access to pay packages such as Canal+ or to new SVOD services. Offers that have nothing to do with those offered in the United States where cable operators provide similar packages… for four to five times more expensive.

“It takes between 100 and 200 dollars in the United States for a subscription including Internet access, television and paid content,” confirms Sébastien Robin. A price considered prohibitive by a good part of the American population - the cord cutters - who, as their name suggests, decided to "cut the cable" of their operator at the same time as their television screen became smarter. Once their smart TV is at home, these new-fangled consumers are content with a much cheaper Wi-Fi connection and pay-per-view purchases of over-the-top services like Netflix, Hulu or Prime Video. So many services that they access directly from their connected TV.

“The accessibility of the triple play offer from operators means that in France, we have observed this phenomenon much less”, summarizes Emmanuel Crego. What's the point of going to the portal of your smart TV when you already have everything in the box? Especially since the latter remains the gateway to certain services such as the replay applications of TF1 and M6. Impossible, in fact, to access MyTF1 or 6Play from the portal of any connected TV whatsoever. The (muscular) renegotiation of the distribution agreements between Orange, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, on the one hand, TF1 and M6, on the other, was an opportunity for the former to introduce an exclusivity clause. "The telcos demanded from TF1 and M6 that they not offer an application for connected TV", explains a connoisseur of the market. A requirement that the telcos justify by the amount donated each year to the duo to continue to distribute its channels, between 10 and 15 million euros per year. No MyTF1 or 6 Play on the Samsung or LG portal. "This can be prohibitive for a good part of the population in view of the striking power of these two television behemoths", according to our expert.

It is especially for telcos "a way to keep the subscriber in the operator ecosystem rather than seeing him turn to OTT to watch Canal + or Netflix", analyzes Gilles Pezet. Keeping control of everything related to the distribution of pay channels and SVOD services means protecting an activity that remains very lucrative. The telcos receive between 10 and 30% of subscriptions taken out and they do everything necessary to protect this manna. Starting with ensuring the good graces of the free channels… The development of a segmented TV offer, jointly with TF1, France Télévisions or M6, is part of this desire to keep control. By allowing the latter to send advertisements addressed to French households equipped with box, telcos give them access to a new financial windfall (between 120 and 220 million euros in 2023 according to Oliver Wyman) at the same time as they ensure their good cooperation over the long term.

"Collaboration between television channels and telcos in the context of segmented TV is a win-win", assures Philippe Boscher, deputy marketing director at TF1 Publicité. It is also, for these actors who share common values ​​(when it is not a shareholder as in the case of TF1 and Bouygues Télécom or SFR and BFM TV) a means of forming a common front against Google, Amazon and co. . "It's the whole French tech ecosystem that emerges from this joint action", continues Philippe Boscher. And to illustrate the advantages of this Franco-French collaboration: “When we exchange with Orange on the correct application of the new recos from the Cnil, we understand each other immediately. Not sure that it would be as fluid with the TV manufacturers. "

Difficult for the two leaders of the Smart TV market, Samsung and LG, to move the lines. “As long as the telcos offer hyper-competitive offers at reasonable prices, it will be difficult to disintermediate them,” warns Gilles Pezet. The expert believes that only the emergence of a "must have" service accessible only via Smart TVs could reshuffle the cards on the usage side. "That could be a great AVOD service." What do those involved think? As for Samsung, the market leader with nearly 30% of smart TVs sold in France, we are much more optimistic. “Yes, France is lagging behind, but there has been a strong acceleration in usage for two or three years, estimates Jérôme Peyrot des Gachons, head of content marketing at Samsung. Today, 60% of our customers use a smart feature. TV daily."

The manufacturer, which offers services like OCS, RMC Sport, Molotov or France TV within its store, defends itself from any squabble with telcos in the field of access to video content. "Operators understood that OTT was a fundamental trend that would be difficult to oppose," he says. Proof of this is this partnership with Bouygues Telecom which allows the French to pay 49 euros for a Samsung Smart TV which is worth 499 euros, provided that they subscribe to the Bbox Smart TV offer. This triple play offer gives them access to all the services usually offered by Bouygues Telecom with one exception. They don't have a box! The latter is dematerialized, taking the form of an application displayed within the screen of the Smart TV and within which we find all the services usually offered via a box.

"This offer is a real innovation with a new way of accessing Bouygues Telecom's TV services. It also allows some of our customers to simplify the installation process", justifies Carmine Muscariello, VP head of broadBand business unit at Bouygues Telecom. No need to install a set-top box and connect it to the TV, a simple Wifi router is enough. “That means fewer cables and connections,” adds Carmine Muscariello. For what success? The telco does not communicate on the performance of its offer, but Carmine Muscariello points out that "it has been enriched with new services since the launch, new QLED models have appeared, which proves its good health." An innovation that calls for others? "We started with Samsung because it is a historical partner and we are carefully observing possible developments in the future", delays Carmine Muscariello.

Bouygues Telecom is the only one with Free, whose dedicated application is called Oqee, to have launched a dematerialized box offer. Bouygues, which remains a challenger on its market, does not believe, however, in the death of the physical box: "At the rate at which the park evolves, the latter is brought to occupy a central place in access to TV for a few more years." The operator is no longer afraid that Bbox Smart TV customers will desert its centralized application to download services like Netflix and Molotov, directly from their Smart TV. "We offer, within our application, a fluidity of navigation with which manufacturers cannot compete", assures Carmine Muscariello. The leader also notes that the uses of those who use this dematerialized offer do not differ much from those who use a classic box.

So, telcos or Smart TV manufacturers, which will prevail in the long run? The identity of the winner will depend on the evolution of the market share of the box operators. "If the latter begins to drop significantly, the free channels could be tempted to review their distribution strategy", warns a market expert. Same thing for advertisers who will go where the reach is. “As long as they are assured that they will be able to reach people, advertisers do not care whether they go through CTV or IPTV to make addressed TV”, adds our expert.

Gilles Pezet advocates patience. "The CTV market has certainly exploded in the United States, but that dates back to 2020." France, which is always a few years behind, could suffer the surge before long. A wave in which some Gafa, including Amazon (which has just unveiled its latest model of Fire TV) and Apple, could participate. The duo, which invests hundreds of millions of dollars in content, which has usage data that no longer knows what to do with it and has real ambitions on the device side, could shake up the opposing forces.

While waiting for things to move, advantage to operators, whose box penetration rate continues to increase (admittedly slightly) in recent years. It is driven as much by the arrival of increasingly innovative boxes (new services, home automation functionalities, etc.) as by the democratization of fiber. Another French exception.

This article is also published in Adtech News, a paper supplement to CB News magazine produced by the JDN, dedicated to adtech and martech. In the October edition, a dossier on CTV, an interview with Danone on DtoC, a reflection on PIFA, a focus on Trygr and the programmatic barometer.