Arte is committed to regain his hearing
Veronique Cayla, President of Arte since last January, is working to redress the Franco-German channel.
LE FIGARO. – Are you worried hearings lower than for DTT channels?
Veronique Cayla. – Arte was affected later by the arrival of DTT. It was only in 2009 that the audience began to drop out. Until then, the evening of Arte has remained at around 3% audience share and, earlier this year, we went down to 1.8% and 1.5% in the evening on the entire day. As France 5, the transition to DTT implies, moreover, Arte for the transition to broadcast 24 hours 24. While the chain of France Televisions significantly increased its investment in programs, Arte spent only 5 million per year to its schedule of the day, offering viewers between 5:00 and 7:01 p.m. showcase particularly poor.Most of the budgetary effort focused on the distribution costs which increased by 46% between 2007 and 2011.
Our new contract with the state gives us a public grant of 270 million euros in 2012, an increase of 7.3% over 2011. The entire increase will be allocated to programs. In return, we will, over the next five years to reverse the curve of the hearing and to win back viewers. I believe that today, no historical chain would risk such a commitment!
The group Arte has a budget of more than 400 million euros (250 million for France). Is it normal in view of its audience?
Arte is a chain serving the Franco-German broadcast in both countries and whose mission is to produce works (fiction, documentaries, films, live shows …). Which necessarily more expensive.In addition, because of bilingualism, Arte can not be a TV stream as simultaneous translation is simply unbearable for viewers.
Your audience is close to 60 years. What will you do to rejuvenate?
There is no question of rejuvenating the audience but to expand it. We find in fact that the same programs that are viewed on our antenna by more than 55 years seduce our site arte.tv 40 years. In other words, these are not programs that age the hearing but the media. I hope so much courage to all those whose strategy based on a rejuvenation of their audience on television! With Arte, we believe that if we suffered on TNT, Internet will save us.
As for the grid, we will work by step, our goal this year is the access to work and then we will address the day gradually up towards midday.
What are the developments on the Internet?
Arte has always been way ahead of the Internet, as evidenced also the success of Arte + 7, our catch-up TV, Arte Live Web, our platform for concerts and live performances, and Arte Creative devoted to art. Today, viewers may find this offer via mobile applications. We will amplify this group policy by continuing to create specific content for the Web. The recent history proves audiovisual Arte must not remain isolated but create a "group" around its antenna.We plan to create three other platforms that could be spent, for example, environment, film and history.
In 2012 and 2013, we will focus on the production of hybrid programs that can be broadcast in television and declined at the same time on the Internet. So we will keep our lead on the connected TV is a blessing to us! It will enable us to attract a wider audience in television and offer a more demanding public and sharp versions of these programs, all on the same screen. At the same time, we will work to relinéarisation part of our program digital platforms to allow viewers to create their own channels Web2.0.
Some accuse you of being more a chain of discovery.What do you say?
Given the history of the chain, it was normal to do work of historical reconciliation between our two countries. That's why the story has long been the focus of programming Arte. Today, there is no reason not to add more in this chain. We must look at the world. Otherwise, Arte no sense in relation to public expectations. The discovery programs are quite a place on Arte.