France Télévisions is the latest publicly-funded broadcaster to cut its big staff bill following Europe’s cloudy recent economic climate.
Having already shed 500, the broadcaster announced it will cut 600 jobs in the next few months following a €40 million reduction in its €2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) budget, bringing its headcount down to 9,750, reports RapidTVNews. The cuts follow others made across the pond by the BBC in the last two years following a freeze in its license fee funding.
But France Télévisions general secretary Martin Ajdari says: “Digital investment will rise as we’ll initiate new web programming and enrich the digital life of our content.”
And, speaking with Beet.TV in this video interview during the recent MIPTV conflab, Laurent Frisch, the broadcaster’s digital head, said consumption on digital platforms is booming.
“Mobile consumption is growing really fast,” he said. “It was 5% of consumption a year ago, now it’s 15%. It’s growing even faster on tablets.”
Around half of France Télévisions’ 50 million monthly digital video views actually come via TV, in a country where IPTV viewership charts highly. Beside mobile consumption, 15% of digital viewing is via PC, Frisch says.
Watch the video for more insights.
