The SFR Play Platform is an on-demand video platform originally dedicated to SFR and RED customers.
SFR has recently decided to break free from TV decoders by going OTT and to offer its service to any internet user on any screen. Previously named “Zive”, the SFR SVOD offer, launched in 2015, was exclusively opened to SFR or RED customers who had the option.
SFR acquired exclusive contents at premium prices and therefore decided to go OTT with their SVOD offer to make it profitable. Nowadays, any internet user can subscribe to SFR Play, regardless his/her internet provider.
As most market leaders do, SFR Play offers the possibility to start with a free month of trial and to continue with a monthly subscription fee of 9.99€, free of commitment. SFR Play is a bit more expensive than market references (7.99€/month for Netflix or Canalplay), but includes a 4K category, the possibility of watching 5 different programs on 5 different screens, Chromecast and Airplay compatibility, a download function to watch contents without a connection, all included (Netflix charges fees for multi-screen and the 4K option, for example).
To dominate the French OTT market, SFR Play will implement the market leaders strategy by broadcasting exclusive contents, in addition to a thousand movies (including 30% of French productions and a lot of Disney movies). SFR play will soon offer the adaptation of the Taken Trilogy into a TV show, produced by Luc Besson, with a budget of 40 million euros for 10 episodes.
SFR Play already claims to be the French SVOD leader with 1.2 million subscribers. These numbers must be put in perspective as most of the SFR customers have SFR Play included in their subscription. This data may therefore include clients who have never used the SFR Play service.
We must remember that according to GFK, there were 2.2 million SVOD subscribers in France at the end of 2016 (including 1.4 million for Netflix and 600k for Canal Play). The total turnover of SVOD in 2016 was about 109 million euros with an anticipated growth rate of 20% in 2017, still according to GFK.
