Dailymotion reopens to creators to relaunch

This is an important step for Dailymotion. The French video platform is launching a new version of its service this Thursday, “intended to attract even more users, especially the youngest”, as explained by its CEO Maxime Saada, during the recent general embly of the parent company, Vivendi.

In an interview with “Figaro”, the one who is also chairman of the executive board of Canal+ group declares that it wants to “p the milestone of one billion monthly users within three years and triple its audience, to 1.5 billion monthly users, within 5 years”. Very ambitious goals.

The service created in 2005 and acquired in 2015 by Vivendi claims to have 400 million regular monthly users, compared to less than 300 million in 2017. But this total includes a very large part of the audience made on partner sites using the “player”. video service (372 million), rather than on Dailymotion.com (about 72 million, these figures partially overlapping). To compare, TikTok claims more than a billion regular users since September 2021 and Youtube more than 2 billion.

Content creators

So there is a long way to go. To succeed in its bet, Dailymotion wants to reopen its platform to everyone and in particular to content creators, of which two hundred have just signed. “We hope for 3,000 by the end of 2024,” specifies Guillaume Clément, chief operating officer (COO) of Dailymotion. For this, the platform promises them 6 euros for 1000 views, against around 1 euro paid by competitors.

Dailymotion had been dedicated to professional media for several years, for reasons of growth. “We focused on the “b to b to c”, by making our video know-how available to traditional media via our video “player” and our monetization solution,” recalls Guillaume Clément. Almost all of the major French press groups use them.

To appeal to 18-24 year olds, who today only represent 10% of the audience, Dailymotion has also completely overhauled its interface, which now uses the vertical navigation popularized by TikTok and which has become “an industry standard” according to the COO.

The French platform, on the other hand, wants to stand out from its Chinese rival and other competitors, by adopting an approach that is more curious and benevolent. For this, Dailymotion relies on a new so-called “exploration” algorithm, rather than optimization.

Benevolence of exchanges

“This will make it possible to look at things that are close, but not similar, in order to promote curiosity”, indicates Guillaume Clément. Another algorithm, called “Perspective”, will also make it possible to bring different points on a subject into the thread, to form one’s opinion. The service also offers features to engage the audience, such as “React”, which allows the user to react in video to published content. It will also be possible to launch polls.

Finally, the service wants to carry out a strict moderation policy, by AI and supplemented by its teams, to guarantee the benevolence of the exchanges. All insults will be banned. The launch will be accompanied by an advertising campaign designed by the Buzzman agency, within Havas in the Vivendi group.

Can Dailymotion raise its bet? Some observers are skeptical. “In the history of the internet, I don’t know of a successful revival story,” says a good expert in the sector. For Vivendi, the adventure is costly. By adding the acquisition and the investments, the group has already bet “more than 500 million euros in Dailymotion”, indicated Maxime Saada to Figaro.

In 2022, the subsidiary of Vivendi “New initiatives”, which includes Dailymotion and GVA – the subsidiary dedicated to very high speed in Africa, recorded an operating loss of 46 million euros, without it being known how much belongs to Dailymotion. But “we foresee profitability and have double-digit growth in turnover every year”, underlines Guillaume Clément. The return to the green, if it takes place, will take several more years.