Today, television channels are going through a crisis due to competition from digital platforms, but also because of what is known as the “ retail media », in other words, the digital channels of mass distribution.
The forecast fell this week and it is signed by one of the main agencies of WPP, the British advising giant for advertisers. In five years, estimates this agency GroupM, the advertising revenues of the “ retail media will exceed those of television by weighing more than 175 billion dollars worldwide. THE “ retail media “, this is the name of the sites or applications of major distributors such as Walmart, Carrefour or Auchan which can be used as advertising media by advertisers who also have access to customer data before they go to the checkout or before their payment, when it comes to e-commerce.
This is how Amazon has become a great platform for advertising, and not just for selling products. So, large retailers are doing the same. Carrefour took advantage of the Viva Tech show this week to announce the creation with Publicis of a joint subsidiary, Unlimitail, with 13 partners such as Castorama and Galeries Lafayette, which total 120 million customers.
Television less attractive
In France, the retail media represents 30% growth last year, with already nearly a billion euros in revenue against 3.5 billion for TV. Consumer brands are beginning to divest from the small screen to place their advertising budgets, on the one hand in digital platforms – therefore in Google, Facebook, TikTok or Netflix -, and on the other hand in this famous retail media, the sites major retailers.
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These massive movements of money have consequences for the future of television, which is increasingly suffering from a backlash from advertisers. All audiovisual groups seek to respond to the Gafan, by becoming digital platforms in turn. But they can clearly see that this drop in revenue, for the benefit of the digital and distribution giants, threatens their model.
Newsrooms impacted?
Nathalie Sonnac, professor at Panthéon Assas University, addresses the issue in a book that has just been published, The New World of Media. She speaks ” democratic emergency because we must never forget that the big private channels – and even some of the public channels – live off advertising. If this windfall decreases, it will also be editorial staff that will be affected, and therefore reliable and verified sources of information circulating on social networks.
In Germany, ProSieben, the leading private audiovisual group with Sat1 and Kabel Eins, is already planning to cut 30% of its workforce, or 2,200 employees, according to Le Figaro. In the first quarter, its revenues fell by 13%. At the same time, TF1 observed a drop of nearly 10% in its advertising revenue…
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