France Télévisions says its franceinfo YouTube channel recorded 110 million views during September, eight times the level achieved a year earlier.
The public broadcaster says franceinfo is now the leading French news destination on YouTube, ahead of channels operated by TF1, M6, RTL, BFMTV and Le Parisien.
The channel reached 12.2 million unique viewers during September, compared with 4.9 million across the January to June period, while daily viewing peaked at 5.4 million views.
Franceinfo has also passed one million YouTube subscribers, adding more than 50,000 during September alone.
Traditional television news brands are generating much of the online consumption. France Télévisions says its 8pm news accounted for 23.2 million views, followed by the 1pm bulletin with 13.2 million.
Programming originating from the franceinfo television channel, which moved to channel 16 on French DTT, is also contributing to the growth. Le Fil info generated 7.9 million views and L’info s’éclaire 3.9 million.
France Télévisions attributes the increase to a “streaming-first” strategy that is adapting material produced across its news operations for digital distribution.
The group says the figures support its strategy of extending public service news beyond its own linear and streaming platforms and onto third-party services used by younger and increasingly digital audiences.
