(Soulmakers) France 24 International : internet increase, in 235 milion houses, Globcast/Orange/SES

All of Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France’s (AEF) Internet sites recorded an increase in traffic in December 2011.

All of Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France’s (AEF) Internet sites recorded an increase in traffic in December 2011 with over 15,000,000 visits (7.7 million unique browsers and a total of approximately 58 million pages viewed). *

Driven by an eventful month of December, with elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Laurent Gbagbo’s transfer to the International Criminal Court and diplomatic tension between France and Turkey, FRANCE 24 and RFI’s websites respectively recorded 6% and 4.5% increases in their traffic, compared with the previous month.Last December, the number of FRANCE 24 videos viewed and RFI audio programmes listened to also reached outstanding levels, with nearly 14 million FRANCE 24 videos viewed and over 2.2 million RFI audio programmes listened to.**
All the RFI and FRANCE 24 language versions have registered growth, with a particularly high increase for the Arabic versions of FRANCE 24 / Monte-Carlo Doualiya (+ 8%). December 2011 was also a particularly significant month for FRANCE 24’s Observers website which notched up its largest audience since its launch with close to 800,000 visits.For the year 2011 as a whole, The Observers, FRANCE 24’s collaborative platform, recorded a 40% increase in traffic on the previous year.With an overall total of over 3 million visitors, AEF’s mobile sites have also posted significant progress, in particular RFI’s site, which saw traffic increase by 55%.Last month, nearly 75% of AEF sites traffic came from outside France, with particular interest from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Russia. In these countries traffic increased by between 12% and 86%.Lastly, AEF’s brands remain extremely strong on the social networks, with a range of multilingual pages that boast over 1.5 million fans on Facebook and over 500,000 Twitter followers.

* Source: Digital Analytix/Comscore – December 2011.

** Figures including traffic on own sites and on partner platforms.

235 Million television households now receive FRANCE 24 – 19/01/12

In 2011, FRANCE 24 expanded its distribution by 33 million television households, which represents a 22% increase in one year.
FRANCE 24 is now available in 235 million television households across the globe either a on 24-hour basis or via part-time distribution in one, two or three of its language versions (English, French and Arabic).In five years, FRANCE 24 has increased its distribution three-fold.Of the 235 million households that receive the channel, 183 million have 24/7 access while 52 million can watch FRANCE 24 for several hours a day as part of other channels schedules.In Europe, FRANCE 24 increased its distribution by about 10% last year and currently has a penetration rate of 75% across the continent.In Asia-Pacific, as well as in North and South America, the channel expanded its distribution by a further 10 million television households in each zone.In the North Africa-Middle East zone, FRANCE 24 expanded its distribution by 8% in 2011 and currently has a penetration rate of 98.5% throughout the region. In Sub-Saharan Africa, FRANCE 24 has a coverage rate of close to 95%.Frank Melloul, Head of Strategy and Development for Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France, comments: “FRANCE 24 has now achieved optimum distribution in Europe, the Middle East and in Africa. This is a resounding success for a channel that was launched just five years ago! Now we have to expand massively into new zones, in new ways and adapt to the demands of local operators, particularly in Asia and North America. Because of the original perspective it provides within the international news sector, FRANCE 24 has real assets to offer on these markets.”

FRANCE 24’s distribution by type of reception:

> 70 million television households receive FRANCE 24 by satellite free-to-air (without a subscription).
> 50 million receive FRANCE 24 as part of a satellite offer.
> 27 million receive FRANCE 24 as part of a cable offer.
> 19 million receive FRANCE 24 as part of an IPTV / ADSL offer.
> 17 million receive FRANCE 24 directly via free DTT (in French Overseas Territories, Italy, Denmark, and some US states, for example).
> 52 million households around the world receive FRANCE 24 as part of other channels schedules (on TG4 in Ireland or TVZ in Burkina Faso, for example).
> 3.5 million users have downloaded FRANCE 24’s mobile applications, all terminals and operating systems cumulated (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, etc.). For more information go to: http://www.france24.com/en/mobile

Globecast and FRANCE 24 to lead HbbTV experiment with Orange and SES – 21/12/11

GlobeCast and FRANCE 24 announced today that they will launch an exploratory Hybrid Broadband Broadcast Television (HbbTV) service early 2012 with the support of Orange and SES.The service, to be offered to FRANCE 24 satellite viewers, initially in Western Europe, will add a layer of interactivity to satellite TV programming by harnessing the capability of connected TVs.Throughout 2012, participating satellite TV viewers will use their connected televisions to interact with FRANCE 24’s linear and non-linear programming via their broadband connection. No additional equipment or hardware will be required. This will be a robust test of HbbTV’s ability to enhance the quality of DTH users’ viewing experience. It should also provide valuable insight towards building broadcast offers that combine the power and reliability of traditional broadcast delivery with the new possibilities offered by the latest Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).
GlobeCast will use its broadcast experience and knowledge of connected television to lead this experiment. It will also provide ground services and uplink from its Paris technical operations center. The satellite feed will be delivered via the Astra satellite at 19.2ºE – SES’ leading orbital position in Western Europe. Orange will use the CDN expertise of its Smart Networks Program to drive the broadband delivery of this service. The result is an integrated solution that promises to deliver a robust experience for the end viewer.Frank Melloul, head of strategy, development and public affairs at FRANCE 24 said “FRANCE 24 is present on five continents, reaching tens of millions of households around the world in three different languages. With this project, we’ve taken a step towards ensuring that all of these viewers have the same ability to interact with our programming.”Philippe Rouxel, CMO of GlobeCast said, “We’re now finally seeing the convergence of broadcast and the internet. As a next-generation provider of broadcast services, GlobeCast will remain at the forefront of this movement. In this new ‘connected’ world, we are helping our broadcast clients offer an interactive, high-quality experience to their viewers worldwide, regardless of delivery method.”HbbTV is an industry standard providing an open and business-neutral technology platform that seamlessly combines TV services delivered via broadcast with services delivered via broadband and also enables access to Internet only services for consumers using connected TVs and set-top boxes.

©2012 France 24 International

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Dear Readers

Today we start “Soulmakers” and we will inform you about the life of the most important and influential global media outlet in the world. We will do it in a neutral way simply using their press releases and we let you to be informed and to evaluate. The “ Global Media Outlet” are of one of the 23 forms of NSA ,( Paolo Dealberti©2010-2012),and you can find more about it at http://prosumerzen.net/2012/01/25/52-articles-in-3-new-weekly-sections-about-the-top-67-think-tank-the-16-rating-agenciesthe-top-6-financial-powerhouse-6/
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Prosumerzen Editorial Team