We’re excited to announce that Wibbitz has opened an office in the beautiful city of Paris, France to expand our existing presence in the region, and to support even more European publishers with our one-of-a-kind video solution. You can find the full press release here. Vous pouvez trouver le communiqué de presse en français, ici.
The steady increase in digital video consumption is being felt by publishers all over the world, but particularly in Europe. According to eMarketer, the global number of digital video viewers is expected to grow 16% between 2017 and 2020 to total 2.5 billion, with 235 million (10%) of those viewers residing in Western Europe. While the UK and Germany are currently leading Western Europe in terms of digital video viewers, France is quickly catching up – by the end of 2017, digital video viewers will make up over half of the French population.
Wibbitz is already working with some of France’s top publishers including Prisma Media, Le Parisien, Le Figaro, and LCI. For Le Parisien, a legacy publisher known for their print newspaper, Wibbitz has become a key asset to their transition into a digital brand. Le Parisien’s team is using our automated creation and distribution platform to publish over 300 videos a day, and the publisher’s engagement and revenue numbers have since increased tenfold.
We have selected Laurent Lasserre, the former Director of Strategic Partnerships at Yahoo, to lead our new office and expansion into France and the greater Western Europe. As a media veteran, Laurent has seen first hand how video has impacted the industry and introduced new challenges to digital publishers:
Through my experience, I’ve observed a growing demand for digital video in both France and Europe as a whole. For publishers who lack the resources and experience needed to scale video production, Wibbitz’s automation technology will become a pillar in their digital strategies. I’m thrilled to join the Wibbitz team to help accelerate the company’s growth in the European market and to introduce the benefits of video automation to more publishers in the region.
– Laurent Lasserre, Country Manager France
We’re proud to have Laurent representing Wibbitz in his home country, helping our existing and future publishing partners make the most impact with video. We’re excited for our team and our presence to continue to grow as Wibbitz becomes the number one automated video solution for publishers – not just in Europe, the U.S. and Israel, but all over the world.