Production and rights agency group Mediapro has selected Amaury Média, the advertising sales agency of the Amaury Group, to market advertising for its new football-focused pay-television service in France, Téléfoot.
Amaury Média’s contract will run until 2024, with Téléfoot due to begin broadcasting in August.
The Téléfoot name was revealed earlier this month as part of a deal struck with free-to-air commercial broadcaster TF1. The ‘renewable’ four-year agreement with TF1 includes the licensing of the Téléfoot name and brand to Mediapro as it looks to leverage the popularity of the Téléfoot football magazine programme launched by TF1 in 1977.
The agreement also includes editorial and production components and the use of TF1 presenter Grégoire Margotton and commentator Bixente Lizarazu for 20 matches per season aired by Mediapro’s new channel.
Amaury Média beat TF1 to the advertising contract after a process run by Mediapro, according to Le Figaro newspaper.
Kévin Benharrats, managing director of Amaury Média, said: “The Téléfoot channel will offer advertisers premium editorial content, positive news, and engaged audiences.
“The know-how of our teams, our expertise in the world of sport and our ability to enhance male target (groups) are assets which add to the enthusiasm generated by the creation of this new channel. Our teams are hard at work for the launch of sales in early July.”
Julien Bergeaud, managing director of Mediapro Sport France, added: “Synergy with the other media marketed by Amaury Média, including [French sports newspaper] L’Equipe, is an asset. This partnership will allow us to offer attractive and innovative solutions to our advertisers, and to meet their expectations as closely as possible.”
Mediapro is launching a subscription channel (or channels) in France on the back of its €780m- ($874.4m) per-season contract for eight Ligue 1 rights packages from 2020-21 to 2023-24. Rights to Ligue 2 have also been secured over the same period, along with Uefa Europa League and Europa Conference League rights from 2021-22 to 2023-24.
The new Téléfoot service will show eight live Ligue 1 fixtures and eight live Ligue 2 fixtures per match week. Under the tie-up with TF1, the commercial broadcaster will produce the one-hour Sunday Téléfoot magazine programme that will include highlights of the matches played on Friday and Saturday.
A target of 3.5 million subscribers has been set for a service that is expected to cost around €25 per month.
A specific launch date is still to be fixed given the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 crisis. Mediapro has targeted the end of August to tie in with the curtain-raising Trophée des Champions match.
Details on distribution agreements for Téléfoot are still to be announced.