But the team at L’Equipe quickly realised that they had more on their hands than just a new way for fans to access content. “We knew that people would welcome an evening sports update, delivered to their mobile devices just when they were unwinding after the day’s work,” comments Vincent Briot, Head of Product at L’Equipe. “What surprised us was that while people were reluctant to pay for each issue, La Numérique was in fact an excellent tool to encourage people to subscribe to the total L’Equipe offering.”

Since its first editions hit screens during the 2016 Rio Olympic games, La Numérique has helped drive up the L’Equipe subscriber base to over 120,000, each of whom is paying €1 for the first month, and then a €9.99 monthly fee. La Numérique has 50,000 users per day, and almost half of all L’Equipe subscribers access La Numérique at least once a month.

“Innovation like this requires time and resources,” adds Vincent. “La Numérique is constantly evolving – it now includes video, for example – but it was that initial support from the DNI Fund that gave us the impetus and support we needed at the very beginning.”