Institut national de l'audiovisuel

What Institut national de l'audiovisuel does

Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) is the French national audiovisual institute, established in 1974 and operating as an Établissement Public à Caractère Industriel et Commercial (EPIC) under French State ownership. INA's core mandate is the statutory collection, preservation, and access of French radio and television heritage via the dépôt légal system; it continuously captures 187 channels and ingests roughly 1.6 million hours of new content annually into a catalog of over 30 million hours. Beyond preservation, INA monetizes and disseminates this catalog through a portfolio of digital sub-brands spanning consumer SVOD (madelen at €3.99/month), professional licensing (INA mediapro and mediaclip, with per-clip pricing from €100 and annual prepaid tiers), higher education and professional training (INA campus), physical media (vinyl, DVD, CD via Diggers Factory and other partners), an open data portal (data.ina.fr), and a heritage interview collection (Entretiens patrimoniaux with 400+ entries). Internally developed technology products include Signature (video fingerprinting), Saphir (optical audio disc reading using groove-reflectivity imaging), DigInPix (visual entity identification), and GRM Tools (audio processing plugins used in film, music, and games). The organization employs approximately 1,382 staff across headquarters in Bry-sur-Marne, the INA grm research office at Maison de Radio France in Paris, the INA campus training site in Issy-les-Moulineaux, and the INAthèque consultation center at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, with a network of 7 expert INAthèque centers plus 50 partner locations across France including overseas territories.

INA's go-to-market is hybrid: self-serve product-led consumer acquisition through madelen; enterprise field sales for professional content licensing with personalized support from research to delivery; event-driven engagement via editorial content, podcasts, and international cooperation projects; and institutional sales to cultural and educational clients. Revenue mechanics are a mix of recurring subscription (madelen, INA campus), transactional fees (mediaclip per-clip, professional licensing), professional services (consulting, digitization), data monetization, and physical goods. President and CEO Fabrice Lacroix leads the organization, which participates in international networks including FIAT, FIAF, IASA, IIPC, and PIAF, and is engaged in multi-year European (TEMS) and pan-African (UEMOA, Robben Island Museum, Kourtrajmé, ISTC Polytechnique) cooperation projects.

Name

Institut national de l'audiovisuel

Legal name

Institut national de l'audiovisuel

Website

https://ina.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) is the French national audiovisual archive (EPIC) that preserves over 30 million hours of broadcast content and distributes it to consumers via the madelen SVOD platform, to media professionals via INA mediapro and mediaclip, and to educators via INA campus.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Audiovisual Archive and Content Services

NAICS

Broadcasting and Content Providers (516), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712), Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Radio Broadcasting Stations (4832), Retail-Record & Prerecorded Tape Stores (5735)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Media Archives, Libraries & Content Preservation (MPABADAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Educational/Instructional Public Media Services (Schools, Distance Learning) (MPABADAH), Radio Streaming & Catch-Up Audio Platforms (MPAIADAJ), Special Education & Accessibility-Optimized Media (UDL, AAC, Captioning) (EDAGALAH)

Keywords

• Audiovisual archive
• Content licensing
• Broadcast preservation
• SVOD streaming
• Audiovisual education

Headquarters

HQ city

Bry-sur-Marne cedex

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. SVOD Subscription (madelen): Subscription video-on-demand service offering unlimited streaming of classic TV programs, series, documentaries, and cultural content. Priced at €3.99/month without advertising commitment.
2. Professional Content Licensing (INA mediapro, mediaclip): Sale of audiovisual excerpts and programs to media, creative, communication, and publishing professionals. Features custom research, documentary and legal consultation, and turnkey license packages.
3. Education and Training (INA campus): Higher education (BTS, Licenses, Masters, work-study programs) and professional training courses dedicated to audiovisual and digital media sectors.
4. Expertise and Consulting: Advisory and consulting services for enterprises, institutions, and media on heritage and media challenges, leveraging INA's expertise in digitization, documentation, and valorization of audiovisual collections.
5. Physical Media Sales: Sale of DVDs, CDs, and vinyl records featuring archival content, classic performances, and cultural programming. Distribution through external partners and retail outlets.
6. Data Services (data.ina.fr): Data monetization through provision of INA's media research data to external users and institutions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

INA is France's national audiovisual institute that collects, preserves, and provides access to over 30 million hours of French radio, television, and web heritage. It monetizes this archive through subscription streaming (madelen), professional content licensing (INA mediapro, mediaclip), physical media editions, higher-education programs (INA campus), and proprietary research tools for video fingerprinting, audio processing, optical disc reading, and visual entity recognition.

Product overview

INA operates as France's national public audiovisual archive managing over 30 million hours of radio, television, and web media content. The organization distributes its catalog through a multi-platform network comprising: madelen (subscription streaming with 11,000+ programs), mediaclip (direct video sales with licensing), INA mediapro (professional catalog access), INAthèque (research consultation centers), and INA campus (higher education). Supplementary platforms include data.ina.fr (open data), Entretiens patrimoniaux (filmed interviews), La revue des médias (media criticism), podcasts, and vinyl editions via Diggers Factory. Technical solutions include Signature (video fingerprinting), GRM tools (audio plugins), Saphir (optical disc reading), and DigInPix (visual entity recognition).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• madelen: Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform offering unlimited access to classic French TV programs, series, documentaries, and cultural content.
• INAthèque
• INA grm
• mediaclip
• INA mediapro
• INA campus

Products and services

• madelen Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service offering unlimited streaming of over 11,000 classic French television programs, series, documentaries, and cultural content for individual subscribers at €3.99/month with no advertising.
• mediaclip Online video sales platform for media professionals to purchase individual clips with bundled licensing rights. Features curated editorial selections organized by theme (Sport, Culture, History, Politics, etc.) with prepaid credit packages starting at €100 per clip.
• INA mediapro Professional content licensing platform providing search and access to INA's catalog of over 2 million hours of audiovisual content. Offers personalized sales support from documentary and legal consultation through turnkey delivery for production companies, broadcasters, publishers, and media organizations.
• INAthèque Archive access service with 7 expert consultation centers and 50 partner locations across France, providing access to 30 million hours of audiovisual content with research support for academic and professional projects.
• INA campus Higher education and professional training institution offering BTS, Licence, and Master's degrees through work-study programs and professional courses dedicated to audiovisual and digital media sectors.
• Signature Video copy detection solution for identifying copies of videos, marketed as the reference solution for content authentication and rights protection.
• GRM tools Audio processing plugins developed by INA grm (Groupe de Recherches Musicales) used worldwide by musicians, composers, sound designers, and the film, music production, and video game industries.
• Saphir Innovative optical audio disc reading solution based on groove reflectivity, enabling sound signal reading through surface photography of audio records.
• DigInPix Automatic visual entity identification tool that detects and classifies a maximum of visual entities from a predetermined list in image and video content.
• INA Vinyl Collection Vinyl record editions of archived music performances produced in partnership with Diggers Factory, featuring limited 33rpm and 45rpm releases of concerts by artists such as Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Brel, Dalida, and Ray Charles.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30 million hours of audiovisual content preserved and accessible
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• European Commission - TEMS ProjectflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2023INA participates in the Trusted European Media Data Space (TEMS) project alongside 42 European media and tech organizations. Funded by the European Commission, this 3-year project launched in October 2023 aims to build a European media data space.
• Robben Island MuseumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner'Unboxing Mayibuye - Access to digital heritage' project: INA and AFD partner with Robben Island Museum to preserve and make accessible archives of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
• AFD (French Development Agency)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for 'Unboxing Mayibuye' project to preserve South African anti-apartheid movement archives in collaboration with Robben Island Museum.
• École KourtrajméminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with the film school Kourtrajmé for its new Dakar, Senegal campus, following existing partnerships in Clichy-Montfermeil and Marseille.
• UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing collaboration since 2014 to support UEMOA's community audiovisual legal deposit project. INA conducted workshop in Ouagadougou for project managers.
• FIAT (Fédération Internationale des Archives de Télévision)coreTechnology or IntegrationActive member of FIAT and other international professional networks including ASBU, CILECT, CMCA, COPEAM, DMLA/ACSIL, FOCAL, IASA, ICA, IIPC, PIAF, and TVFI.
• Diggers FactorycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with Diggers Factory for vinyl record sales and distribution. INA vinyl collection available exclusively through this platform.
• Comédie-FrançaisecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOngoing publishing partnership for theatrical recordings including Britannicus, Le Misanthrope, Roméo et Juliette, and other Comédie-Française productions on DVD.
• FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film)coreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership with FIAF and French Cooperation Services to develop online seminars on film heritage, including a Spanish-language seminar with 46 participants from 9 countries.
• ISTC Polytechnique (Abidjan)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFranco-Ivorian Hub for Education: INA and ISTC Polytechnique opened a Global Media Image Reporter Journalist training program in Abidjan.
• ArtecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCollaboration with Arte on documentary series 'En guerre(s) pour l'Algérie' (In War(s) for Algeria), featuring 66 testimonies gathered over 2 years.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Arte: Franco-German public broadcaster that co-produces and licenses content with INA (e.g., "En guerre(s) pour l'Algérie"). Comparable as a French-language public broadcaster partner and content counterparty rather than a direct archive competitor.

Broad incumbents

• France Télévisions: France's main public broadcaster, whose content INA is mandated to archive. Comparable as a public French audiovisual institution, but operating in production/broadcast rather than archive/preservation; provides INA's primary content inflow.
• Library of Congress (National Audio-Visual Conservation Center): US national audiovisual preservation facility (Culpeper/Packard Campus) operating at much larger scale than INA. Comparable in mandate for audiovisual heritage preservation and public access, but embedded in a broader national library system.
• Pathé: Historic French film and media company with an extensive archive dating to the 1890s, offering content licensing, restoration, and distribution. Comparable as a French audiovisual content owner with archive-based licensing and restoration services.

Direct peers

• Bundesarchiv (Federal Archives of Germany): German federal archive including the Filmarchiv (film archive) unit. Comparable as a national government archive with audiovisual preservation mandate, digitization programs, and public/researcher access services.
• British Film Institute: UK national organization for film, television, and screen heritage. Operates the BFI National Archive, BFI Player streaming service, and educational programs — directly analogous to INA's archive-plus-SVOD-plus-education model under a national mandate.
• Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision: Dutch national audiovisual archive with statutory deposit obligations, offering professional licensing, public access, and educational services. Closely mirrors INA's mandate-based archive plus commercial platform structure in a smaller national market.
• RAI Teche: Historical archive of Italian public broadcaster RAI, offering streaming, professional licensing, and cultural programming derived from decades of broadcaster content. Comparable as a public-broadcaster-embedded archive with consumer and B2B channels.
• Cinémathèque française: French institution dedicated to film heritage preservation, exhibition, and education. Comparable as a French audiovisual/film archive with museum-style access, screenings, and educational programming, though narrower in scope (film-centric vs. INA's TV/radio breadth).
• BBC Archive: BBC's audiovisual archive, providing public access via BBC Archive and licensing for productions. Comparable as a public broadcaster's content repository with commercial licensing and research access, though not a standalone statutory body.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Inatheque1
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCOTy21QGMPKimnnVJsv_lFg
• Facebookfacebook.com/p/Inath%C3%A8que-100064509890201
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ina_2

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Institut national de l'audiovisuel