After TF1 with myTF1 Max, the M6 group offers 6play max, a paid replay service “almost” without advertising. Who announces the end of Salto, the streaming platform with France Télévisions, and, perhaps in the long term, free replay…
This time, it really smells of fir for somersault. The famous streaming platform set up jointly by the TF1, M6 and France Télévisions groups was intended to be the French response to the American giants of SVOD – subscription video on demand – which are Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney++. Launched in the fall of 2020 – late on the initial schedule because of the Covid pandemic – the service is struggling to seduce compared to the tough competition, with less than a million subscribers in 2022 as revealed on the microphone ofEuropean 1 Delphine Ernotte, president of France Télévision at the start of the year. A disappointing record, which risks becoming even heavier.
6play max: a paid formula almost without advertising
Indeed, after TF1 which launched myTF1 Max in November 2021, a paid formula presented as an extension of its classic free replay service, it is M6’s turn to distance itself. With exactly the same recipe. Thus, the audiovisual group – which includes the TV channels M6, W9, 6ter, Paris Première, Téva, Série Club, but also Gulli, Canal J, TiJi, MCM, MCM Top and RFM TV, the radio stations RTL, RTL2 and Fun Radio, film and television production, distribution companies, an advertising agency, websites, music publishing and show production companies… – announced in mid-October the launch of 6play max, a paid option from 6play, its free video streaming platform. A launch that quite clearly foreshadows an upcoming withdrawal from Salto. And, which portends, perhaps in the long term, the end of free replay as we know it in France then more than ten years.
In practice, 6play max is based on the same technical base as 6play, namely a website and applications for Android, iOS, Samsung TV and Google TV. The new offer thus offers streaming access to the video content of the group’s channels, in replay and on demand (in VOD, therefore). Its main interest: the absence of advertising before and during reading. Or almost, because in its web page FAQM6 indicates that some programs – without further details – may “contain advertisements for contractual reasons”. By also specifying that the channels broadcast live keep the advertisements, exactly as on DTT – hard to do otherwise! Moreover, if the image definition remains limited to Full HD (in 1080p mode), the retention is extended because the content remains available for at least 30 days, which is higher than the free formula where they remain only a few days. Last advantage of the paid formula: the possibility of downloading programs to watch them offline, on mobile (smartphone or tablet only, via the app).
6play max: towards the end of totally free replay?
On the price side, 6play max is much cheaper than services like Netflix, Disney +, Amazon Prime Video or Canal +: 3.99 euros per month, without obligation, after a free trial period of seven days. For its launch, 6play max is even offered on promotion, at only 2.99 euros per month for one year. Very attractive prices, therefore, but which are explained by a catalog much less provided than in the American competition. The M6 group thus claims some 6,500 hours of videos – the same as for the free offer, moreover, with some bonuses and unpublished –, when Netflix counts more than 36,000.
It is therefore difficult to know if this new offer will be successful although it does not play in the same court as the giants of the field, in particular with its low price. What seems certain, however, is that M6 will invest much less in Salto in the future to favor its in-house offer, to the detriment of the “common pot”. And it is easy to imagine that in the long term, private audiovisual groups will leave only crumbs to their free replay services to develop their paid formulas, a priori more lucrative. By leaving this land to public operators such as France Télévision and Arte, which, fortunately, still offer quality programs, and even films, always free of charge!