We spoke to Rémi Tereszkiewicz, the CSO of BetaSeries, who moderated the Monte-Carlo TV Festival panel “Streaming Platforms & the Challenge of Audience Engagement through Content” on 15 June. During our conversation, we focused on the figures he presented at the start of the talk and what the industry can learn from them.

Cineuropa: Can you please talk us through your work for BetaSeries?
Rémi Tereszkiewicz: BetaSeries has two main activities. First, it’s a free online media platform dedicated to TV series and films. We offer users detailed information like synopses, cast, articles and comments, where to watch content, as well as personalised recommendations, alerts, watchlists and sharing features. Today, we’ve built a community of over 3 million users across Europe. Moreover, we work closely with the media industry by providing exclusive insights into how series are performing, what’s trending and how the market is evolving. These insights come from analysing what our users declare they’re watching, combined with AI technologies. Our tools help professionals better develop, position, sell or acquire content.

During your presentation, you showed how audiences experience search fatigue. After finishing a series, 32.2% of viewers spend over 30 minutes trying to find another suitable one. Why?
With the growing number of platforms and the endless stream of available content, viewers are increasingly overwhelmed by choice. At the same time, they expect more personalised recommendations than they ever did in the linear TV world. So, there’s a real and growing need to better match content with individual tastes. That’s where BetaSeries comes in: we help audiences cut through the noise with smart, tailored recommendations, and we provide the industry with powerful tools for content discovery.

What would be the strongest reason for abandoning one platform in favour of another? Some of the reasons you mentioned were: the presence of one or more specific series (28%), a bundled offer (47%) and a more attractive price (20%). Could you elaborate on these figures?
In today’s economic climate, it’s no surprise that people are reconsidering how many platforms they subscribe to, especially as prices keep going up. That alone can lead to what we call “churn”, when a user drops a subscription. But what’s interesting is that, in the recurring studies we run every three months, we consistently see that nearly one-third of the time, people switch platforms not just because of price, but because of content. A particular show, a compelling story, a favourite actor – these can all be decisive factors. It’s that feeling of “this series seems like it’s made for me”.

 This highlights how much power creators really have. A great series isn’t just a story; it’s a strategic asset for platforms and broadcasters, helping them attract and retain subscribers. When creators and producers understand this, they’re in a stronger position to pitch and sell their projects.

You argued that “successful content is a mix of many components”. What are some of the most important ingredients?
A good story has always been the foundation of any successful show. But today’s audiences are also looking for themes that resonate with their lives, their values or their curiosity. In TV series especially, the journey of the characters plays a huge role, creating empathy and keeping viewers engaged from one season to the next. That’s why, at BetaSeries, we go beyond basic information. We analyse content at every stage by digging into its “DNA”. Thanks to the wealth of elements, we can build much richer content profiles and uncover the factors that can drive success, depending on the commissioner and target audience.

You added, “Successful TV series don’t just follow trending genres.” What else do they do?
We believe that relying solely on genre segmentation doesn’t fully capture what makes a piece of content powerful. When we applied our new content discoverability solution to the most-watched TV series in France during Q1 – across both SVoD and BVoD platforms – we noticed that these top-performing shows often shared common societal and psychological themes, like fake news, conspiracy, betrayal or complex family dynamics. These themes clearly resonate with viewers not just because they’re entertaining, but because they tap into real emotions, concerns and experiences.

You stated that themes reveal a lot about content engagement and discoverability. Why is that the case?
Bringing discoverability into the equation allows us to speak to audiences in a much more meaningful way. It’s not just about asking what they want to watch, but also why. For example, if someone’s in the mood for a holiday, are they really looking for a thriller set on the French Riviera? Or are they drawn to any story that gives them that vacation feeling because the characters themselves are experiencing it? It’s about matching content to mood, context and emotional expectations.

What were the key takeaways shared by the panellists?
The three panellists – Brendan Foley, Moritz Polter and Anant Singh – all agreed that their initial success often came from trusting a strong, personal creative intuition, or a gut feeling for a good story. But more than ever, they also recognise the value of staying in tune with the zeitgeist. Being informed by market insights doesn’t mean compromising creativity; it actually helps shape stories that resonate more deeply with audiences and, just as importantly, makes them easier to sell. They also emphasised that great content is a blend: it starts with a compelling, attention-grabbing story, but it’s the depth and development of the characters that drive true audience engagement.