What If French Broadcasters Recruited YouTubers to Compete with YouTube?

By Max Legrand · GreyFox Ads · French AdTech perspective

French broadcasters are increasingly distributing their programmes beyond their own services. But what if they reversed the model—and invited popular YouTube creators to distribute videos on broadcasters’ platforms? That could be an intriguing way to challenge YouTube in the battle for audiences and digital video advertising budgets.

1. Why is YouTube such a powerful video distribution platform?

YouTube is a major digital video advertising platform in France, but its competitive advantage is not only its advertising technology. It also operates a vast infrastructure for hosting, discovering and distributing videos uploaded by creators. That is a fundamentally different model from traditional broadcasters commissioning and programming most of their own flagship content.

In the original argument, we deliberately pushed the contrast: YouTube’s catalogue is largely creator-supplied rather than produced as a traditional broadcaster’s schedule. The phrase “YouTube produces no content” is shorthand, not a literal description of every production, licensing or investment arrangement the company has ever had.

Creators can earn a share of eligible advertising revenue, with splits that vary by format and monetisation programme (the 45%–55% figures cited in the original post are indicative of particular arrangements, not a universal rate for every YouTube video).

2. French broadcasters are already experimenting with hyper-distribution

Broadcasters increasingly look beyond their own apps and channels to distribute programming. In France, the original discussion pointed to partnerships involving TF1 PUB and Netflix, and France Télévisions, Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, as illustrations of a wider distribution strategy (the precise scope and commercial terms of each arrangement differ).

But here is the fun question: what if broadcasters applied the same logic in reverse? Instead of sending their own content onto other platforms, they could invite external creators to bring content onto TF1+, france.tv, M6+ or CANAL+.

3. What would a YouTuber-to-BVOD portability model look like?

The idea is surprisingly simple on paper: offer major French YouTubers a way to publish eligible videos across platforms with minimal additional work, then reward them through a revenue-sharing model that is competitive with their existing options.

1. One-click publishing: creators upload or syndicate an eligible video through a common distribution interface.
2. Clear rights management: each platform receives the permissions it needs for video, music, third-party clips and advertising.
3. Transparent revenue sharing: creators know how advertising income is calculated and paid.
4. Audience and performance reporting: creators can see incremental views, revenue and engagement by platform.
5. Optional editorial curation: broadcasters can highlight selected creators without pretending every video belongs in a traditional TV catalogue.

Music and podcast distribution offer a useful analogy for portability. Video, however, brings additional technical, rights and moderation requirements; a truly effortless workflow would take serious engineering and commercial coordination.

4. What could YouTubers gain from broadcasting on TF1+, M6+ or france.tv?

Incremental reach is the first opportunity. A creator might meet viewers who already use a broadcaster’s app but do not regularly discover that creator on YouTube. A second potential advantage is exposure to advertisers buying combined TV + digital video packages.

There is also the promise of additional revenue without producing entirely new programmes. But “zero extra effort” is an ambition, not a guaranteed reality: creators would still need to consider exclusivity, music rights, community management, brand fit and whether extra distribution cannibalises existing audiences.

5. What would French broadcasters gain?

For broadcasters, creator partnerships could bring fresh, digital-first programming into BVOD environments, diversify viewing occasions and make their platforms more relevant to younger or creator-led audiences. A revenue-share approach might also reduce the need for upfront acquisition fees compared with some traditional content deals.

Infrastructure costs would not automatically stay low: video storage, transcoding, delivery, discovery, trust and safety all carry real costs, even when broadcasters focus on a curated group of major creators.

6. Why hasn’t this model become the obvious answer?

First, creators may be reluctant to dilute their YouTube communities or risk conflicts with existing contracts. Second, audiences expect different experiences from a broadcaster’s app and a creator platform: recommendations, comments, subscriptions and discovery matter.

Third, a viable commercial model requires credible reporting and enough advertising demand to make a revenue share attractive. And rights clearance can be especially complicated when a creator’s video includes music, licensed footage or sponsor integrations.

So this is not a magic switch that instantly transforms BVOD into YouTube. It is a proposition worth piloting, measuring and improving—with creators involved from the start.

7. Could creator content strengthen the French video advertising market?

If the model succeeded, advertisers might gain additional premium video environments, creator-led contexts and more options for cross-screen planning. Broadcasters could experiment with packaging professionally curated creator content alongside existing TV and digital inventory, while keeping clear distinctions between editorial programming and creator uploads.

The crucial questions would be incremental reach, attention, brand safety, cost and transparent measurement—not simply the number of extra video impressions available. For related context, read our analysis of CTV-washing, our perspective on the AI-driven video industry, and our article on Open Web attention.

8. What does GreyFox Ads think?

At GreyFox Ads, we believe the quality French Open Web deserves a stronger value proposition for brands. Broadcasters exploring creator distribution would be one more way to rethink the competition with major platforms—not a substitute for better formats, smarter monetisation or a cleaner programmatic supply chain.

Our own focus is on Master Deals: curated programmatic activation that brings together supply-path optimisation, quality inventory, brand safety, meaningful screen share, cross-environment targeting and transparent costs. You can also explore our proposals for reviving the French Open Web.

Original LinkedIn post: What if broadcasters recruited YouTubers? · Our Master Deals.

Written by Max Legrand, founder of GreyFox Ads.