France's Molotov, a cloud-based video streaming company, is taking its home country...and the OTT market...by storm.
Founder and CEO Jean-David Blanc told Cheddar that, in the 9 months since launch, the company has signed up 1 million subscribers. He says its audience has tripled in the last six months, and with minimal advertising efforts.
Molotov's over-the-top service comes at a time when video-on-demand in France is gaining steam. The sector has seen rapid growth in the face of a steady decline in traditional television-watching.
According to research firm eMarketer, nearly 40 percent of all time the French spend watching TV digitally in France was done on a mobile phone or tablet. That compares to 31.6 percent who use a connected TV.
Blanc noted on Tuesday that on average nights, his platform captures 5 percent of television viewership in the country.
As of now, the platform features all broadcast channels, as well as premiums like HBO. Molotov also provides a curation service, where users can categorize the content they would like to watch as they would for a themed playlist. In addition, Molotov offers a complimentary 10-hour DVR feature, with an option to pay extra for more time.
“We want to grow this company all around Europe as fast as possible,” Blanc told Cheddar.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
