Canal+ Passed 40 Million Subscribers, and More Than Half of Them Are English-Speaking
Variety reports that Canal+ Group's year of dealmaking includes a 34-percent stake in UGC — the Paris-headquartered studio that operates one of France's leading cinema chains — and a $2 billion takeover of MultiChoice, the South African pay-TV company.
The MultiChoice takeover helped push the Canal+ subscriber base north of 40 million, and more than half of those subscribers are English-speaking, thanks to MultiChoice's reach across the African continent.
The French group also acquired a majority stake in Lucky Red, the Rome-based distribution and production company, in February.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Anna Marsh, Studiocanal's CEO and Canal+'s deputy CEO and chief content officer, insists this wave of acquisitions across two continents has strengthened the group's position during industry disruption. Buying a market is really buying its subscribers — a distribution win that doesn't automatically become a storytelling win.
She also says it is harder and harder to hit the bull's eye, and that with Gen Z audiences there is just no room for error. That's the admission worth holding next to the subscriber number: scale doesn't make an audience easier to please.