Alexandre Cohen, who previously managed CANAL+ subsidiaries in Gabon and then Togo, has been CEO of CANAL+ ADVERTISING for the past year. CANAL+ ADVERTISING is the advertising agency for channels published by CANAL+ INTERNATIONAL and other publishers.
Could you tell us about your career and what you have learned after more than a year as CEO of CANAL+ ADVERTISING?
I have been with the Canal+ Group for almost 14 years now. I have spent all of those years in the sub-Saharan African market, including eight years based on the continent as CEO of our subsidiaries in Gabon and then Togo.
This first year at the helm of CANAL+ ADVERTISING has been as intense as it has been exciting. It is a rapidly growing entity operating in a dynamic advertising market.
My goal is to continue developing the advertising agency, particularly in the local markets of Sub-Saharan Africa, and to accelerate our growth in the digital sector.
CANAL+ ADVERTISING is a key player in the advertising market in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa. How are you organized and which advertisers do you target?
CANAL+ ADVERTISING is the advertising agency for channels published by CANAL+ INTERNATIONAL and five partner publishers: Trace, France Media Monde, TV5MONDE, Gulli Africa, and 7info in Ivory Coast. We also market advertising space for the CanalOlympia cinema network.
Although our headquarters are in Paris, we are increasingly expanding in Africa. We have two major agencies there, the first in Abidjan, the second in Lagos, and very soon a third in Cameroon. We also have team members in Libreville, Antananarivo, and Dakar, as well as around 20 agents deployed in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
In just a few years, CANAL+ ADVERTISING has become a major player in the advertising market in Sub-Saharan Africa. Today, we are the leading advertising agency in terms of both audience and revenue.
Our advertisers are both international and local. We offer turnkey or tailor-made solutions to suit all budgets.
You have stepped up your targeting initiatives in recent months (Africascope Urban, Cible shoppers, etc.). Can you explain what they involve and what new features they offer?
CANAL+ ADVERTISING has recognized expertise in research. This investment is crucial in advising our clients. Indeed, to optimize their brand communication, it is essential to know their consumers well. That is why we have launched two major innovations this year.
Africascope Urban (Kantar) is a significant evolution of what is now the benchmark study in French-speaking Africa. We have expanded its scope by adding the populations of the two or three main secondary cities to those of the capitals of the eight countries covered. This development significantly improves the granularity of the measurement by covering 55 million French-speaking Africans aged 15 and over. Although we are still far from complete coverage, this marks considerable progress in terms of the actual audience volume we offer.
In addition, we have returned to the market benchmark indicator, the cost per thousand advertising contacts (CPM), which better reflects the power and economics of our offerings.
The second major innovation of the year is the creation of our "Shoppers" targets. This involves moving from socio-demographic targeting (age, gender, standard of living, etc.) to behavioral targeting (consumption of goods and services, appetites, etc.). To do this, we rely on the Africascope study, integrating variables related to consumption. Thirteen economic sectors are available (automotive, food, beverages, hygiene, etc.), with details for certain brands.
The aim of these "Shoppers" targets is to enable our clients to maximize their communication by addressing their consumers directly. This is a "useful audience," with no wastage, on the basis of which it is possible to create a precise and optimized media plan.
You market the CANAL+ group's channels as well as channels from other publishers. How important are each of these two categories? Do you plan to continue expanding the number of channels you market, particularly by taking on national channels as you did with 7info in Côte d'Ivoire?
We are happy to be able to work with several partner publishers. Their media allow us to broaden our offering to include topics that we do not cover and thus reach more targets.
Therefore, within these limits, we remain open to market players. Several models of collaboration are conceivable: advertising sales or partnership, pan-African or local marketing, other media, etc.
Regarding 7info, we are very happy to be their advertising sales partner. It is an ambitious channel that caters to a market segment that we have not covered until now in Côte d'Ivoire. Our teams will do everything possible to help them grow.
Which channels do you market to Ivorian national advertisers and how do you see the Ivorian audiovisual and advertising landscape evolving?
Côte d'Ivoire is a country on the move! There is strong economic growth, with a young and dynamic population. We have a tracking tool that allows us to analyze advertising investments and thus see that the market is growing rapidly. Côte d'Ivoire is therefore a major country for CANAL+ ADVERTISING.
We put our expertise at the service of Ivorian advertisers. We are closely attuned to their expectations. For example, I can announce that we will soon be launching "Shoppers" targets in Côte d'Ivoire based on the Médiamétrie study.
We are fortunate to benefit from the popularity and audience of A+IVOIRE. In a very short time, this channel has become part of everyday life for Ivorians.
And then, as I explained, we have expanded our advertising offering to 7info with a theme that is popular with the public and at the heart of Ivorians' concerns.
The issue of audience measurement in Côte d'Ivoire is both consensual—everyone agrees on implementing a single audience measurement system that is recognized by all—and still evolving, since the Médiamétrie/Omedia study is not unanimously accepted. What is your view on this issue?
That is indeed a good question, and I would like to take this opportunity to put an end to what is nothing more than false information: that Canal+, as a shareholder in Médiamétrie, influences the results of studies in Côte d'Ivoire!
What is this all about? In France, when it came to setting up a tool to measure television audiences, advertisers' associations, agencies, and most of the major media outlets joined forces to finance the creation of a research company. This is how Canal+ and M6, which is itself a shareholder in Life, all became shareholders in Médiamétrie. This has no impact on the implementation of studies or on the results, whether in France, Cameroon, or Côte d'Ivoire.
But let's get back to the main issue: audience measurement! It is essential for enabling publishers to adjust their programming and for advertising agencies to optimize their advertising inventory. Without research, it is impossible to professionalize and develop a market.
With the arrival of DTT in Côte d'Ivoire on the horizon, Médiamétrie proposed that all private and public audiovisual players co-finance an electronic audience study. This proved financially impossible. As a temporary measure, Médiamétrie then proposed returning to a traditional face-to-face study based on 1,500 interviews per month. Here too, it was not possible to reach a consensus among all parties, mainly because of the cost to publishers; this is why the current study is conducted on a quarterly basis. We subscribe to this approach, as do others, and are very happy to be able to do so soon in Cameroon as well.
In all markets, publishers do everything they can to make better programs and more successful channels than their competitors, and everyone is convinced of this. This is nothing more than healthy competition. But we must also accept viewers' choices by relying on reliable studies, such as Africascope and the Médiamétrie study in Côte d'Ivoire, rather than personal estimates!