Television news remains popular, with viewership split between France Télévisions, privately owned TF1, and a range of cable and satellite providers. France’s long-established commercial radio, particularly RTL and Europe 1, still command large audiences, along with a range of publicly funded stations such as France Inter, France Info, and France Culture.

The newspaper sector is particularly weak and remains partly dependent on state subsidies amidst falling sales and advertising revenue. Even so France still has more than 80 daily newspapers, mostly in private hands and not linked to political parties. The most successful papers are often regional rather than national.

Online, many of the best known national titles such as Le Monde and Le Figaro face competition from digital-born media and also from broadcasters.

Among French pure players, Mediapart is the most successful, with 112,000 subscribers for its mix of online investigation and opinion. Mediapart reported profits in March 2015 of €1.5m on turnover of €8.8m. Another start-up Lesjours.fr will launch a paid edition later in 2015 staffed by former editors and writers from Libération. It hopes to attract 25,000 subscribers within three years.

Le Huffington Post, a joint venture with Le Monde, has been gaining ground steadily (up 3 to 8%) and is funded by advertising and sponsored content – while Buzzfeed, which launched a French edition in 2013, has made strong gains with under 25s.

Google remains a major player in France, with Google News a significant destination (11%). French publishers settled a row with the search giant in 2013, accepting an offer of a $60 million innovation fund. Early results are now emerging, including new apps and initiatives around paying for news. €250,000 was earmarked to support the Charlie Hebdo magazine following January’s shootings.

Social media helped galvanise reaction to the January Charlie Hebdo shootings with #jesuischarlie trending not only in France but also around the world. Videos of the killings and aftermath were widely circulated on YouTube and another popular (French-born) social platform Dailymotion. As a result we have seen significant increase in news participation online over the past year.

AL, NN