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What were the key features of 2022? How
did AFP react on the commercial front once
the pandemic eased?
After two years of disruption, our first goal was to go back
and see our clients, as we said we would last year. That's
exactly what we did, even if it was not possible in all regions
at the same time due to various COVID restrictions. But on
the whole, 2022 marked the return of AFP to the market,
which made us very happy.
We have also learned the lessons from the restrictions of
recent years -- that a lot can be done from distance, more
reactively, more efficiently, and with greater agility.
We have established a hybrid working system, which better
meets our clients' needs. We are often told that the quality
of our commercial relationships is something that sets the
Agency apart and we want to strengthen this still further.
Did the war in Ukraine have a commercial
impact?
Of course, it was the event of the year. The agency's excep-
tional editorial coverage of an event of this magnitude and
complexity strengthened AFPs position in the market It
showed how indispensable we had become to media out
lets that wanted to be able to report accurately on what is
happening in the world
AFPs sales grew again in 2022 after a stable
2020 despite the pandemic and growth in
2021 What do you put this down to
Its true that sixpercent growth in our world is a great per
formance and we are really pleased with it Of course part
of this is down to our neighbouring rights contracts but
thats not the whole story
The main reason for the growth is that we have a clearly de
fined strategy with three main drivers of growth video digi
tal investigation and our new content platform AFP News
We put all our resources into developing these three areas
without allowing ourselves to get distracted.
So our success is due to the Agency's sales and marketing
teams skilfully carrying out this strategy.
At the same time, we have also stayed flexible in order to
seize opportunities. We have gotten a lot better at this even
if there is still some work to do in this area.
So, let's talk about these drivers of growth.
How is our video product doing?
I don't think we have ever had such high quality and broad
video coverage, including live feeds. Everyone can see this.
And it sells. We again enjoyed double-digit growth in video,
with sustained growth in several market sectors, TV of
course but also production houses, distributors, etc.
The good news is that we are still a long way from satura-
tion with this product. We are making progress on all fronts
but we still have major clients we could win in Europe, Nor-
th America, and Asia especially. It's a long-term battle to
change habits but we are getting there.
We launched a new version of our live platform (AFPTV Live)
in 2022, which offers new features and opens up new sales
potential We are therefore very well armed for 2023
How is the digital investigation product
developing
As disinformation continued to spread we consolidated
our position as the global leader in this area in 2022 We
are now working with Facebook TikTok and WhatsApp and
we have done tests with other platforms We have grown
our network of media clients who subscribe to our fac
tchecking wire
But the biggest novelty of 2022 was the launch of our digital
investigation training programmes for journalists and jour
nalism students
Supported by Google and available in several languages on
digitalcoursesafpcom this programme is freely available
to everyone Our sales and marketing teams have sup
ported the programmes development because it is great to
"
We again enjoyed double-digit growth in video, with sustained growth
in several market sectors, TV of course but also production houses,
distributors, etc
."
PATRICE MONTI
SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR
THE YEAR AS SEEN BY
INTERVIEW
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