Canal+ Chooses Livelike to Add Interactive Features to Mycanal

Nov 6, 2020

Pioneer Streaming Platform to Bring Enhanced Social Viewing Experience to Viewers, Starting with Live Soccer

NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 6, 2020CANAL+ Group, the leading French media company, continues to innovate the digital experience around premier content. Today, the company has announced a new partnership with LiveLike, choosing its audience engagement platform to bring its mobile and online viewers a new level of interactivity.

Starting with live soccer coverage on the Ligue 1 Uber Eats match Paris Saint-Germain v. Rennes this Saturday (Nov. 7), LiveLike’s suite of audience engagement features will be incorporated directly into the myCANAL platform. Viewers of the PSG v Rennes match will have the opportunity to engage while watching live broadcast, using polls, quizzes, predictions, and alerts, with more to come.

CANAL+ has built strong connections with viewers, particularly through its ‘Mode Expert’ on the myCanal App. With the seamless integration of Livelike’s best-in-class suite of interactive features into myCANAL alongside live soccer coverage, CANAL+ targets to bring even more social viewing to its platform in the future.

This marks the latest integration of LiveLike’s new audience engagement suite, with CANAL+ joining other recently announced partnerships with Turner Sports, Sky Sports and FloSports.  LiveLike’s technology, via API and/or SDK, are also being used around the world to enhance social viewing experiences for news and entertainment programming.

Samuel Westberg, LiveLike Chief Commercial Officer: “Having grown up in France both watching and playing soccer, it is an honor to have CANAL+ as our first partner in the country. They were amongst the first European broadcasters to believe and invest in digital and their app is second to none on the continent. We are thrilled that they trust us to power the next phase of their audience engagement strategy.” 

About LiveLike

LiveLike brings the next generation of digital fan experiences to live events.  Its technology allows content owners and platforms to engage their audiences through interactive and immersive experiences, significantly changing the way people view live sports and entertainment. Founded in 2015, LiveLike initially built a successful business with a focus on bringing fans to the biggest live sporting events in the world through virtual reality – from the Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup, to the French Open, UEFA Champions League, European Championships and more.  The company has spent the past two years developing a suite of tools that brings new engagement and monetization opportunities to media companies, publishers, brands, sports leagues and clubs, through proprietary software that is integrated seamlessly and directly into their existing mobile apps and websites. This SaaS toolkit creates a unique social experience that includes features such as spoiler-free co-watching, gamification, interactivity, influencer-led chats, brand integration opportunities, and more.  Officially launched in 2020, LiveLike’s new fan engagement offering has already been integrated with Sky Sports (English Premier League),  FloSportsand Turner Sports (NBA). The company is also expanding beyond sports, applying its technology and expertise to new categories, including entertainment and news.

About CANAL+ Group

CANAL+ Group is a leading media company and pay-TVoperator. It is also a leading player in free-to-air television with three national channels, C8, CSTAR and CNEWS, and an ads sales agency. CANAL+ Group has a wide international footprint with a presence in Europe, Africa and Asia. CANAL+ Group totals 20.4 million subscribers worldwide, including 8.6 million in mainland France. With STUDIOCANAL, CANAL+ Group is also a European leader in the production, acquisition and distribution of feature films and TV series. CANAL+ Group is wholly-owned by worldwide integrated content, media and communication group, Vivendi.