Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (PDG), NRJ Group SA
Buzz Média : Jean-Paul Baudecroux - Le Figaro
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About Jean-paul Baudecroux
In a February 2009 presentation, Jean-Paul Baudecroux discussed the performance of NRJ12, stating that the channel had confirmed its third-place position among general-interest channels among new DTT entrants. He reported that its national audience share in 2009 had increased by 50% compared to 2008, reaching an average of 1.5% for the year. Baudecroux attributed the growth of DTT channels in part to the continued rollout of DTT reception in France, noting that over 12 million households received NRJ12 exclusively via DTT and that the upcoming analog switch-off would accelerate this trend. Baudecroux also outlined the group's commercial strategy, emphasizing the importance of the 25-49 age demographic. He stated that this group, which represents 34% of the French population, accounts for 53% of consumption, making it an ideal target for advertisers. He described NRJ's global offering as the leading option for the 25-49 demographic in radio and third on DTT, highlighting the homogeneity of the group's audience across both radio and television.
Transcript (17 segments)
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Interviewer0:06
Jean-Paul Baudecroux, hello, hello, welcome to Buzz Media Orange Le Figaro. Thank you. You are the founder and CEO of NRJ Group. So NRJ is the radio stations, right? NRJ, Rire et Chansons, Nostalgie, it's the Chérie FM channel, it's the television channel NRJ 12. You have one, it's the number of the day. You currently have only one channel on free DTT. Do you want more?
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Jean-Paul Baudecroux0:30
Yes, absolutely. We must not let the freeze on bonus channels lead to a total freeze of the television landscape in France. You mean you want the CSA to allocate new-entrant channels before allocating bonus channels? Yes, because moreover the CSA announced last October that they would launch a call for applications to allocate free channels. Yes, it is normal. The situation of historical operators is very different from that of new entrants. And we must not, because of the legal uncertainty (Brussels has sent a formal notice to France on this subject), freeze the French television landscape and prevent new entrants from being able to sustain themselves by having a second channel.
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Interviewer1:19
Ah, how many projects do you have then?
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Jean-Paul Baudecroux1:21
We have two projects. It is the CSA who will obviously choose one of the two. We are not imposing anything. We have Chérie HD, which will be a feminine channel for women, lifestyle and so on, and it's an offer that is missing on free DTT today. And then we have a second project, Nostalgie TV, which will target those over 40, increasingly numerous targets with the aging population, and will broadcast a lot of heritage content, yes, all the catalog films and French heritage TV series that we will remaster to upgrade them to HD. So it will also be very virtuous for this heritage.
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Interviewer2:09
Okay, and do you hope to obtain one of the two frequencies when, finally?
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Jean-Paul Baudecroux2:14
Well, listen, when the CSA launches a call for applications, we have already written to the CSA with NextRadio to ask them to launch this call very quickly because the terrestrial resource is available, and the law provides that it must be allocated.
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Interviewer2:30
Okay, and when the government is considering postponing all new DTT channels to 2016, what do you say?
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Jean-Paul Baudecroux2:38
I say that would be a serious mistake, first for the general interest and for viewers, because there are indeed offers missing on DTT today. Moreover, I recall that these channels, whether Chérie or Nostalgie, whichever is selected, will not heavily impact the advertising market; they will break even with 50 or 60 million euros, so they will have very little weight on the advertising market. And what are we going to wait 5 years for? To see connected TV arrive in 5 years, leaving the field open to Google TV or Apple TV, etc. I think that would be a serious strategic and industrial error if, on the pretext that these bonus channels are contested by Brussels, the government decides to freeze everything. That would be a serious mistake.
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Interviewer3:26
So the project by Canal+ to make a free channel named Canal 20 worries all the players in the French audiovisual landscape. Are you also worried by the arrival of a free Canal+ channel?
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Jean-Paul Baudecroux3:37
I am not. We, NRJ, were born with competition in 1981, so competition has never scared us; it has strengthened us. On the contrary, competition creates jobs. I recall that NRJ 12 employs 25 producers, 25 television production companies that did not exist before the arrival of DTT. So you see, we have created and fostered the emergence of many production companies, more than 25 to date, and it's not over. We are about to produce a daily drama series; we already produce numerous magazines like 'Tellement Vrai' and 'Tellement People' which are great audience successes. I recall that NRJ 12 today has between 8 and 10 million viewers every day. And you set a new record? Yes, we beat another audience record with a peak of 2 million viewers in prime time with a film called 'Au plus profond de l'océan' with Michel Field. So we are very happy. And we are in an already very competitive environment, but it's great. I recall that France is, according to my information, 7th in the world in terms of television advertising investment.
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Interviewer4:44
So do you think the advertising market can grow as new channels appear, or if the market doesn't grow, will each get a smaller share?
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Jean-Paul Baudecroux4:52
No, we have seen it. When new DTT channels arrived, TF1 and M6 announced record profits that they themselves called historic. We have always seen, in all areas, in air transport, in all commercial fields, that it is the richness of the offer that develops demand. And the richer the offer, the more it creates jobs and develops demand.
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Interviewer5:17
So you said you were born in 1980. That was the FM band. This year we celebrate 30 years of the FM band. What is your best memory?
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Jean-Paul Baudecroux5:26
Oh, I have many, but my memories are of a pioneering era where just surviving the day was an exploit, as in life in general actually. Every day was about winning a victory. That was a bit like it every day; we didn't know what tomorrow would bring. That was very, that...
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Interviewer5:45
That was 30 years ago. For the next 30 years, do you see the arrival of digital terrestrial radio, or is that definitively buried?
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Jean-Paul Baudecroux5:50
No, I see the arrival of digital terrestrial radio. Moreover, it is already digital today on the internet, on smartphones, etc. You should know that nearly 1 in 2 iPhone owners have downloaded our applications. Your makeup artist had downloaded it? We already have 2.5 million iPhone owners who have downloaded it. So we have already done digital radio. What we need, if we want to do it on terrestrial, is simply to find a less costly standard because the migration involves nearly 200 million FM receivers in homes today, including car radios. It will take many years, and for that we need to be able to bear the costs of dual FM and digital broadcasting. That's why we say yes to digital radio, but with a much less costly standard. Moreover, our subsidiary TOCAST has already identified one that we have indicated to the CSA.
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Interviewer6:41
Very well, Jean-Paul Baudecroux, thank you, and we will see you tomorrow with a new guest. Thank you, have a good day. Thank you.