Two surveys carried out on behalf of new news channel France 24, (see January issue of TVBEurope, front cover) reveal that it has succeeded in positioning itself in a different way to its competitors in the eyes of its viewers. When asked about the value of launching a French international news channel, 75% in France, 84% per cent in Senegal, 85% in Algeria, 73% in Italy and 58% in the United Kingdom, replied that they considered the availability of a new news channel to be ‘useful’ or ‘very useful’, writes Philips Stevens.
In terms of overall public awareness, the response figures were in excess of 50% in France, Algeria and Senegal, 36% in Italy and 25% in the United Kingdom. This means the channel is ranked fourth among the most watched international channels.
According to Damien Amadou of France 24, of greater significance was the fact that between 20% and 41% of opinion leaders in France, Italy, Algeria, Senegal and the United Kingdom stated that they had watched the channel at least once. “In all cases this was a higher figure than that of Deutsche Welle. In France, this exposure was better than that of the English Al Jazeera channel.”
Amadou reports that a Nielson survey carried out in France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Switzerland, Australia and Brazil, showed that the France24.com website ranked third after CNN and the BBC but ahead of Eurosport, Al Jazeera, TV5, RFI or Euronews. ‘The results revealed that 52% of visits to www.france24.com were made outside France – meaning that a worldwide figure of nearly four million visitors was obtained, of which the French represented no more than one third.’
