The majority of Quebecers who watch French-language Quebec series and films have difficulty finding them on streaming platforms, even when searching, reveals a new study by the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
There are several ways to find Quebec content on streaming service platforms, whether through the recommendation algorithm, keyword searches or the provision of playlists.
However, the 2023 Quebec Survey on the Discovery of Cultural Products and Digital Technology reveals that 65.3% of the online audience for Quebec series and films considers it difficult or impossible to discover new content on non-Quebec platforms such as Amazon Prime TV, Netflix and Crave, among others.
“That’s still a lot of people who want to find content but aren’t able to,” says Lysandre Champagne, a researcher at the Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec and author of the survey. “This is the first time we have figures on the discoverability of content and it reveals interesting data,” she says.
For those whose viewing habits are more than 50% Quebec content in French, the study shows that it is easier for them to find other content of the same genre. “As in many studies, it is not possible to know in which direction the correlation goes,” admits the researcher. The question is asked directly in the survey: “Do people who consume more find it easier to identify Quebec content in French or, conversely, do they consume more since they find it more easily?” More research would be needed to answer this question. One thing is clear, however, the discoverability of content is not easy for everyone.
Not so easy to watch, even once you find the content
The study goes even further and checks with respondents whether the content, once discovered and located, can actually be viewed. For a fifth of respondents, the content is difficult to access, whether because of the requirement to pay a premium for viewing, availability depending on the country, or other factors that restrict access to the film or series.
Among those questioned about tracking and accessibility, three-quarters admitted that they had to use two or three platforms to access the content that interests them. “We understand that people in audiovisual, to consume what they want to consume, have to subscribe to several platforms,” underlines Mme Champagne.
Among all members of the Internet audience who consume or do not consume Quebec content, half believe that non-Quebec streaming service platforms should give more visibility to Quebec series and films in French. The proportion drops among 15 to 29 year-olds, for whom only 41% believe that content should have more visibility. The difference is even more marked among English speakers, 21% of whom believe, compared to 56% of French speakers, that visibility should be increased.
For Lysandre Champagne, these figures demonstrate a new reality. “It is an innovative study, we do not yet have historical figures or data with other countries to compare.”