Molotov, the start-up that wants to revolutionize television
Accessible on any device (mobile, PC, tablet or television), this unique platform promises to reinvent the way we consume the thousands of hours of programming offered by television channels in France.
In the making for three years, it was officially launched this Monday and is accessible free of charge in its basic version which includes 35 channels including all of TNT.
“Television in terms of service, accessibility, information on programs is so archaic,” explained Pierre Lescure, co-founder of Canal+, of which he was CEO, during a press conference. “There is a phenomenal waste in the poor exposure of all the programs that are so rich on French television,” he explained in the offices of the company that he co-founded with Jean-David Blanc, founder of AlloCiné, and Jean-Marc Denoual, a former TF1 employee.
With the explosion of channel offerings, it has become difficult to have an exhaustive overview of all the programs available on the small screen. Viewers have become nomadic, demanding to be able to watch their favorite program at any time and on any device, a behavior accentuated by the arrival of platforms like Netflix.
Although the channels have tried to respond by offering “replay” and video on demand offers, the viewer’s journey often remains laborious.
To bring back the youngest, the Molotov platform has set up an interface which allows you to navigate through the programs, to resume them from the beginning, to interrupt them and then resume them on another device or even to record.
Search filters are also possible by personality, program types or themes.
Raising 100 million euros in sight
To make money, Molotov is banking on its two paid offers at 3.99 euros and 9.99 euros per month, which notably allow access to a pack of paid channels. No Canal+ or beINSport for the moment but Molotov is negotiating hard and promises ads for the start of the school year.
Asked how many years it would take to reach profitability, Molotov’s management refused to give a date, stressing the unprecedented nature of the project. The company is about to complete a second round of fundraising after raising €10 million in 2014 from investors such as IDInvest, the essential Marc Simoncini (founder of Meetic) and Jacques-Antoine Granjon (CEO of Vente Privée) as well as Steve Rosenblum.
Several actors have already failed to get their teeth into such a project, which requires the green light from television channels for the distribution of their content.
While the founders of Molotov emphasize that they “put themselves at the service” of the channels, the launch of the platform has the air of a forced passage while the agreements for the distribution in “replay” (catch-up) of the contents of TF1 and M6 are still under discussion. Similarly, the recording in the cloud of the contents, allowed thanks to an amendment conveniently voted in Parliament renamed “Lescure amendment”, could become a casus belli with the publishers. Another major obstacle: Molotov will only be accessible on television screens if they are connected to the internet, which requires being equipped with a connected television or a box such as AppleTV or Chromecast key.
Without waiting for the French verdict, the founders of Molotov are already hoping to conquer other countries in Europe and are preparing a new fundraising of 100 million euros.
(with Reuters)
