Canal+ Group’s Maxime Saada Details Long-Term Survival Plan: ‘I Don’t Want To Be Dependent on a Single Market’

Clad in his familiar accessories of dark suspenders and tortoise-shell glasses, Canal+ Group Chairman CEO Maxime Saada cuts a decorous and professorial figure, though the two framed posters of Scarface and The Godfather that decorate his office walls offer a slightly better insight into the chairmans inner passions.

[I follow] a logic of intensity, Saada tellsVariety.As a payTV player, our main objectiveis not to broadcastcontentto the widest possible audience in orderto lure to advertizers, nor to aim for consensus. We want to inspire passion and fervor, because reactions of not bad do not encourage subscriptions.

Saada is being honored at Mipcom with the Variety Vanguard Award.

Since taking the reins eight years ago, Saada has looked for new subscribers all across the globe, transforming the emblematic French brand into a significant international player that has grown from 11 million (almost entirely European) clients in 2015 to last years tally of 25.5 million, spread across more than 50 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Fueling this expansion has been a recent slate of acquisitions, as Canal+ has claimed a 12% stake in the Scandinavian streaming platform Viaplay and a 26.1% stake in Hong Kong-based OTT service Viu, while angling for a controlling interest in the latter service within the next few years. Under Saadas watch, the pay-TV giant has already become lead shareholder of South Africas MultiChoice and in 2019, absorbed the Luxembourg-based, Central and Eastern Europe-targeting M7 Group.

As the CEO sees it, all of these initiatives were born of the same overarching strategy.I dont want to be dependent on a single market, Saada explains. My number one concern is how to help Canal survive the coming decades. That means reducing dependencies onany specificcontent, onany specificgeography and on specific audiences. And every time you bring in a new platform, youre less reliant on the previous ones.

In France, Saada has sought a generational makeover, luring back a once-faltering younger audience with targeted programming and investments in a fresh generation of comedic talent equally adept at stand-up, sketch comedy and scripted fare. The service also introduced a new subscription tier, offering the under-26 crowd a no-commitment, reduced rate that has led to nearly 400,000 youth sign-ups.

Youre betting on the fact that those subscribers will stay, and the longer they stay, the more profitable theyll be, adds Saada.

Further afield, Canal+ has seen youth numbers swell, boasting 8 million African subscribers with a median age of 25. Earlier this year, Canal+ upped its ante in the Johannesburg-headquartered MultiChoice to 31.7%, raising questions of a possible takeover should the broadcaster reach the 35% threshold. Whatever may come, Saada still factors in MultiChoices 22 million users as part of the Canal+ Groups medium-term ambitions to a notch above 50 million global customers.

Pursuant to that global strategy, Canal+ has diversified its sports offerings, complementing the traditional pillar of soccer with a bulked up focus on motorsports. It signed a long-term accord with Formula 1 and holds exclusive broadcast rights to the MotoGP World Championship, with both deals extending to 2029. The motorcycle league has proven a particular success, with each race now drawing in north of one million viewers, while Canal+ also holds broadcast rights to Champions League soccer for the next three seasons, and for Top 14 Rugby until 2027.

Still, when it comes to the brands core identity, athletics takes a back seat to a more immediate association.

Cinema drives subscriptions, Saada explains. Because everyone who loves sports also loves movies, whereas the reverse is not always the case.

On the silver screen, Canal+ Group remains a foundation of the local industry, pledging an investment of 600 million ($640 million) in French and European films between 2022 and 2024. In recent years, the group has increased its support of female directors, with Canal+ currently earmarking 25% of all pre-buys for female-fronted projects. The chairman is quick to point out that his group played an early role nourishing the careers of Palme dOr winners Julia Ducournau and Justine Triet, while the groups distribution arm Studiocanal recently hit a box office milestone, banking more than 1 million admissions for Jeanne Herrys All Your Faces.

By way of Hollywood, the broadcast group made sure to re-up long-term output deals with all the major studios, recently claiming freshly inked contracts with Universal, Sony and Paramount, among others.

Nobodys going to subscribe to Canal [just to catch the latest blockbuster,] says Saada. But on the other hand, people might very well unsubscribe if [we dont have those movies on our service.]

Looking forward, Saada sees his groups production/distribution subsidiary Studiocanal as a key tool for expansion and diversification. As the studio readies highly anticipated 2024 titles like the family threequel Paddington in Peru, the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black and the Florence Pugh-Andrew Garfield led romance We Live in Time, Saada has also made the global market a key consideration for the studios French-language fare.

We aim for international sales to represent 50% of a given films budget, Saada explains. Projects with a proposed budget of 10 million must be able to clear 5 million in sales. And if the international teams only anticipate 3 million, well adjust the budget accordingly. Once again, we dont want to be dependent on any one market.

Next year will also see the launch of Paris Has Fallen, an action series adapted from the Gerard Butler-led Fallen film franchise, that will place The Bureau star Mathieu Kassovitz in the catbird seat. Building on cinematic, commercial IP, the English-language thriller will be the first Studiocanal series made available to all Canal+ subscribers across all global territories, heralding a wider change in Studiocanals television remit.

We plan to develop more and more series like this, says Saada. In addition to everything else Studiocanal is doing, we aim to make big, English-speaking franchises that can be exported all over the world.

Those looking to trace Studiocanals growing, global ambitions need to look no further than this years Mipcom slate, which showcases 10 series, performed in five languages, that encompass eight genres.

After premiering at the Venice Film Festival earlier this fall, the Canal+ original Of Money and Blood marks Lost Illusions director Xavier Giannolis first scripted drama, bringing together a powerhouse cast that includes Vincent Lindon (Titane), Niels Schneider (Coup de Chance) and Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace). The 12-part docudrama tells the true story of one of the biggest financial swindles of the 21st century.

Led by Petite Maman star Nina Meurisse, La Fivre (The Fever) spins off the acclaimed Canal+ original Baron Noir, exploring the political and racial tensions of contemporary France through the lens of a crisis management firm tasked with a uniquely volatile case.

Rounding out Studiocanals scripted slate are comedies like the Dutch-language Costa!! The Series, and the French procedural sendup Bullit and Riper, alongside the Polish genre-buster Black Daisies, which mixes elements of crime thrillers and the supernatural, and a new season of Spanish romance The Vow.

This years Mipcom lineup also boasts a beefed-up slate of documentaries. Projects include the fashion expos Lagerfeld: Ambitions, the basketball doc Victor Wembanyama: Un1que, and the high-octane racing title Jean Todt: A Life Full of Speed.

Finally, Studiocanal will roll out season three of The Adventures of Paddington, a CG-animated, preschool-targeting extension of the Paddington franchise.

Coming further down the pike, Canal+ has co-produced and claimed French rights to the Clive Owen-led Monsieur Spade, which catches up to Dashiell Hammetts iconic private eye Sam Spade as a gentleman of leisure whose French retirement is rudely interrupted by a new case. Here, too, is another emblematic project mixing French locales with wide international accessibility. Created by Scott Frank and Tom Fontana, the limited series is set for broadcast next year.