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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

be able to offer such a service to clients and prospects.

Our priority in 2023 is to continue growing these pro-

grammes but also expand our sales of factchecking content.

What about AFP News Are you happy with

this new platform that you had such big

ambitions for in 2022

We have cleared the threshold of 500 active clients on the

platform in 2022 when we only had 150 in 2021 so yes we

are very satisfied with the results

Of these users twothirds have transferred from AFP Fo

rum They are now enjoying a higherquality and more mo

dern user experience New clients make up the other third

What works well is the combination of this quality platform

with an innovative commercial offer consisting of a pack of

multimedia credits giving clients access to all our produc

tion

Due to this flexibility clients who think they cant afford

the luxury of AFPs quality service can now access it

We aim to have 1000 active clients on AFP News by the end

of the year with new functions added

No major changes for 2023 then?

We will keep forging ahead. Fabrice Fries has set out a new

roadmap which, among other things, aims to make AFP the

preferred agency for the media We are going to get busy

achieving this on the commercial front by being innovative

reactive and oncall for all our clients