Watch our expert report on Overseas media, reflecting the diversity of the territories, with Guy Détrousselle, Mélanie Brice and Frédéric Latil on video.

Estimated reading time: 7 min 28 s

Médiamétrie has been measuring television and radio audiences in almost all French Overseas territories (departments, regions or local authorities) since 1991. These measurements shed light on the specificities of each territory in their media habits. In terms of programmes, news, whether local, national or international, remains a key driver for audiences. As part of its annual “Overseas Year” report, Médiamétrie regularly presents a comprehensive overview of TV and Radio trends in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific areas, as well as of digital habits in the French West Indies and French Guiana.

Guy Détrousselle, Business Development Director at Médiamétrie, says: “when we mention the French Overseas territories, this term actually covers great disparities and each territory has its own particularities, whether in terms of television channels or radio stations, media consumption and programmes watched”.

A wide variety of TV channel offerings depending on the territory

In the French Overseas territories, more than 9 out of 10 people own at least one television. It is in La Réunion that the ownership rate is the highest, with 94.3% of people aged 13 years and over having a TV set, bearing in mind that in all of the territories studied it exceeds 90%.

While 8 out of 10 people subscribe to a paid offer in the French West Indies and La Réunion, it can be pointed out that 7 out of 10 individuals in French Polynesia are DTT exclusive. This difference can be explained in particular by various Internet Service Provider operators and the lack of Canal + packages in this territory.

This is reflected in terms of audience share: free DTT channels achieve an 88% audience share in French Polynesia and between 43% and 57% in other territories, where the audience share of channels accessible via the extended offer (satellite, cable, ADSL or fibre reception) is higher.

Sylvie Gengoul, Executive Director of the Overseas Department at France Télévisions, explains these differences between territories: “The Overseas Department of France Télévisions consists of nine TV channels, nine radio stations, nine websites and a French Overseas portal. The populations we serve are sometimes very different in terms of age structure, activity, cultural and geographic backgrounds. There is little in common between French Guiana and French Polynesia, between the French West Indies and Mayotte, or even between Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Wallis and Futuna. Our offer attempts to adapt to each of these territories”. 

The biggest television watchers are the people of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Mayotte: every weekday, 8 out of 10 people in these territories watch television. La Réunion, New Caledonia and French Guiana are at similar levels, with approximately 3 out of 4 people. The people who watch the least television are the people of French Polynesia, with 2/3 of the population watching television daily. They spend 3 hours 9 minutes every day watching television, while the people of Guadeloupe and Martinique devote more than 4 hours 30 minutes a day to television. These results are still remarkable, however, with an audience that is largely concentrated on two local channels.

A sign of the importance of the news in the French Overseas territories is the fact that the peak audience is always during the news slots, with the evening news which can be both on public service channels or broadcast by private actors. This particularity is a real difference with mainland France, where the peak audience is reached during prime-time programmes. On average, across all territories, viewers watch between 2 and 3 channels every day.

Guy Détrousselle gives this analysis: “Although the TV audience has long been carried by news and also telenovelas, with the latter being, however, less widely broadcast, today the share of local entertainment programmes and local sports or festive events seem to bring new momentum to the TV schedules. Major local events depending on the territory - Carnivals, sports competitions like the Grand Raid and the Tour des Yoles or cultural events like the Va'a - punctuate the programme schedules”.

Sylvie Gengoul confirms the weight of public service news: “News is the most representative genre of our offer, but also the most powerful. We are proud to attract more than 75% of the audience share with some of our evening news programmes, such as in Guadeloupe, Mayotte and New Caledonia”.

As Thierry Michaut, Managing Director of the Unit Media agency, points out: “the programmes that are popular in France or Europe are also popular here, and young audiences are increasingly turning to content creators, especially local ones, on social media. Urban music is also very popular among young people here, with a thriving and structured local scene via the Exo Fm radio station, which unites this scene like Skyrock does in France and is both very connected and present on Antenne Réunion, which belongs to the same local media group.”

In the words of Nassima Omarjee, Deputy Director of Radio Coordination at Antenne Réunion: “the news editions, at 12.30 pm and 7 pm, are the channel’s two essential audience peaks. The Indian series KumKum Bhagya and Les Feux de l’Amour are also enjoying continued success, around the midday news. Overall, the audience structure for the channel is stable. We are constantly working with the teams on innovative, local programmes. This year, for example, we launched a morning show, 6/8 Ansanm, which is broadcast live for two hours from Monday to Friday”.

Radio is a daily companion for people in French Overseas territories

In radio, the biggest listeners are in La Réunion, Martinique and Guadeloupe, but also in New Caledonia. In these territories, more than 7 out of 10 people listen to the radio every day.

In Guadeloupe and Martinique, listeners listen to more than 4 hours of radio daily (4 hours 28 minutes and 4 hours 6 minutes respectively). In the other territories, the listening time is around 3 hours. On average, listeners listen to between 1 and 2 radio stations per day. The medium's peak audience consistently occurs at 7 am, whether on morning news or music shows, while it is at 8 am in mainland France.

“The programme offer is very broad with a rich musical universe including local artists or talk show formats opening the airwaves to local populations on daily societal topics”, as Guy Détrousselle points out.

As Jean-François Ollivier, Deputy Director of Radio Régie, puts it “in La Réunion, the locals spend a lot of time in their cars, which encourages radio listening. Private radio stations are achieving very good scores. The Freedom radio station, which is specific to La Réunion, proposes an offer that is entirely focused on phone-ins and broadcasting, among other things, practical information and obituaries, allowing the moods of the inhabitants to be expressed; as such, it plays a very strong role in bringing the people of La Réunion together and takes the pulse of the local population.”

Association radio stations are also widely represented.

Internet habits similar to those of mainland France

3 out of 4 inhabitants of the French West Indies and French Guiana connect to the internet every day. More than 83% of them are able to connect at home, first of all by mobile phone, then computer, television, tablet and game console.

More than 8 out of 10 people aged 13 and over in all of these territories own a smartphone. As far as households are concerned, more than 7 out of 10 households have at least one computer, 4 out of 10 have a tablet, 36% have a voice-controlled speaker in the French West Indies/French Guiana and 28% in La Réunion, 27% have a games console in the French West Indies/French Guiana and 35% in La Réunion.

Over 38% of internet users who connect to the internet every day spend more than 3 hours per day online on average.

Three-quarters of online users who connected to the internet in the past month have already purchased a product or service online at least once.

More than 8 out of 10 internet users are registered with 2 or more social media sites. WhatsApp is the most used in the French West Indies and French Guiana, while Facebook is the most popular in La Réunion. Around 60% log on to social media for at least one hour a day on average.

Valuable and accurate audience measurements

The Métridom study by Médiamétrie provides information on television and radio audiences in the French Overseas territories. Guy Détrousselle explains: “audience measurement is extremely comprehensive and informative, and produces many indicators, with audiences for every quarter of an hour. It allows media players in these territories to have access to accurate information and analysis. Audience measurement is essential for editorial management, as well as marketing advertising space via media-planning tools”.

For television channels and radio stations, it provides the audience per quarter of an hour, socio-demographics as well as data on habits, making it possible to monitor changes in behaviours and weekly coverage.

Sylvie Gengoul says: “The audience measurement provided by Médiamétrie allows us above all to measure our social utility, to ensure that we reach the different segments of the population, from the youngest to the oldest, from the wealthiest to the most deprived. A detailed analysis of the results allows us to verify that our content is correctly scheduled according to the audiences available and observing chronological series allows us to assess the audience's attachment over time or the weakening of certain programmes”.

Nassima Omarjee adds: “We analyse the audience data from Médiamétrie over several waves. We look at the evolution of the media and the competing channels. The tool also allows us to conduct analysis by demographic and by region. These indicators allow us to adjust our choices both in terms of purchasing programmes and production”.

Isabelle Razaire, Director of the Havas Outremer agency, analyses the French Overseas advertising markets: “these markets are small territories in which the local media offer is broad and predominant in terms of Media consumption. These are markets in which nationally developed campaigns are either invisible (e.g. billboards) or reach the ears of populations in the French Overseas territories in an extremely attenuated way. This is linked to the time difference in certain territories, or to the lack of attention paid locally to ads containing many messages which are not addressed to them (e.g. car brand open days and most promotional offers). Hence the interest, for advertisers with ambitions to grow in French Overseas markets, of communicating about the local media offer. In most of the territories in which we operate, advertising is not seen as an intrusion or an annoyance, but more as a source of information, or even entertainment. In our territories of limited and often geographically isolated areas, the local people are looking for events, entertainment opportunities and all kinds of outings. Also, local media, to create ever more links with their audiences (existing or potential) are becoming more and more creators of events.”

Laure Osmanian Molinero