A year ago, everyone announced the death of Molotov, including us. However, the broadcast platform has never ceased to attract subscribers and, with its recent acquisition by Fubo, it is preparing its comeback in force. Jean-David Blanc, founder and CEO of Molotov, looks back on the history and projects of this scale-up.
The origins of Molotov
Originally, Molotov was a response to what television was becoming. If the new generations expressed their need for a delinearization of media content, the old ones found themselves lost in the face of the plethora of television channels. “ Around the 2010s, the channels multiplied. There were nearly 150. The offer was so enormous that we spent our time skipping », remembers Jean-David Blanc.
At the same time, new screens are taking over. No more television in the middle of the living room, now you can consume your content on your smartphone or tablet. This democratization of multi-channel emerges at the same time as streaming platforms, including Netflixwhich offer a different emphasis on content and the possibility of watching films and series whenever you want.
The encounter at the origin of Molotov
Based on these observations, Jean-David Blanc intends to offer a product that makes “ television as accessible as YouTube or Netflix, with a plethora of offerings » and mostly free. An important project then follows, that of the reinvention of television and its interface. “ We have rethought the ergonomics and the way we navigate between programs, particularly with visuals, search engines, classifications by genre, etc. to allow users to see at a glance the available programs, whether they are live or replay. We also implemented a system that allows you to rewind the live stream, which was completely new.»
This transformation of our consumption and our relationship with television is not based solely on technological innovations. Behind Molotov are also legal battles, starting with the evolution of the law on private copying for the deployment of the option of recording programs on the cloud.
Jean-David Blanc did not carry out these projects alone. To create Molotov, the entrepreneur contacted Pierre Lescure, journalist and founder of Canal+. At the time, he was also at the origin of a report on the future of television. “ I showed him the Molotov project, he was amazed by the revolutionary aspect of the service and he immediately joined. »
The Molotov adventure, a real roller coaster
The Molotov adventure begins with immediate success. “ Before we even launched, we had several hundred thousand people on the waiting list. Molotov reached one million users barely eight months after its launch, which is considerable for a service only available in France. »
But, while success comes knocking on Molotov’s door, problems are not far away. Salto begins to emerge and questions of disintermediation arise. A period of legal standoff appears between the startup and the television channels against a backdrop of “ unsustainable price increases, something Deezer and Spotify have also experienced in their history with record labels », observes Jean-David Blanc.
This period, the founder of Molotov describes it as “ a difficult battle », with the desire of M6 and TF1 to charge users for services which are usually free on televisions. “ We had to go through the paywall, but it turned out to be financially beneficial for Molotov. » At the same time, Molotov lives the life of a growing startup, with its ups and downs, its victories and its defeats.
Fubo’s arrival at Molotov’s capital
While the need to accelerate is felt, it is a meeting between Jean-David Blanc and the CEO of Fubo (American streaming television distribution company based in New York), David Gandler, which will shake things up. “ We experienced the same stories and the same obstacles. They had just returned to the New York Stock Exchange. We wanted to be stronger together and decided to merge. » remembers the founder of Molotov.
While Fubo offers a 100% paid offer, Jean-David Blanc specifies: “ pricing policies are independent in each country. » If Molotov has developed its paid offer, the free part of the application will remain so. The partnership with Fubo is above all the fuel that the Molotov machine needed to accelerate. “ We have much more resources. We went from 50 engineers in France to 500 at group level. »
What does Molotov’s future hold?
With the support of Fubo’s resources and teams, Molotov clearly intends to accelerate the development of innovation for users, notably with the establishment of a unified platform which will be launched in 2023. ” The future of Molotov will look like Molotov, but better, with more features, more languages, performance improvements. We want to give ourselves the opportunity to open up to other countries and other markets », projects Jean-David Blanc. Today, discussions are underway to integrate certain streaming services. The platform also hosts the services of Adult Swim (Rick & Morty, etc.) or OCS (The White Lotus, Missions, etc.).
On February 27, 2023, Fubo presented the results of the group, and therefore of Molotov. The platform continues its growth in France and now has 420,000 paying subscribers (up 117% compared to 2021) for a turnover of 7.2 million euros in the last quarter of 2022.
