By Andy Fry
RTL’s French broadcasting division M6 Group has unveiled a partnership between its AVOD streaming platform 6play and digital-first media group Konbini. Under the terms of the deal, youth-oriented Konbini will launch a dedicated FAST channel on the platform based around some of its most popular online programming strands.
Launching in March, the channel is called Konbini 24/24. At the outset it will carry around 50 hours of new programming. Key titles will include episodes from its Club format (Video Club, Food Club, Video Games Club), Fast & Curious, Shooting Secrets and Good Job. There are also plans for 6Play and Konbini to collaborate around established M6 programmes such as Top Chef, with Konbini offering its audience exclusive spin-off content during the broadcast of the new season.
The alliance is interesting – because it indicates that digital-first studios like Konbini see potential to repurpose their digital content for the emerging FAST market. Konbini general manager Irakli Lobzhanidze told Le Figaro that: “The idea is to continue to diversify our economic model to be less dependent on a single source of income.”
M6 Group head of programming in charge of digital platforms and sport, Frédéric de Vincelles said the Konbini content, which is typically shortform, is being “specially reworked and re-edited by the Konbini and 6play teams. It will be able for the first time to be consumed on television screens in new long versions”.
Konbini launched online in 2008 and has around 15 million subscribers. Its audience is approximately 85 per cent 15 to 34 year-olds. Alongside its ambitions in FAST, the company is looking at the potential of directly producing factual content for TV,
The US is generally acknowledged as the leading market for FAST channels, but mainland Europe is growing quickly. Aside from the new Konbini channel, 6Play carries FAST channels devoted to telenovelas and content from studios like Vice.
