Canal+ and Les Revenants cult audience

How does the Les Revenants opening construct cult audience?

Les Revenants deliberately targets and constructs a niche and cult audience.

The first episode's cold opening throws the viewer in entirely blind to the situation at hand within the narrative and doesn't take the time to overexplain anything. This immediately alienates casual viewers that are disinterested in having to put much thought into what they're watching on the screen.

Intense opening music by Mogwai, bleak and sombre, this paired with the lowkey lighting lends itself to an atmosphere of a show that you have to be in a very particular mood to watch and consume, to be drawn into. 

The symbolic function of the butterfly smashing through the glass, works as a proairetic code to inform the viewer bluntly on the nose that the show is one with themes of the cycle of life and death. It could also be a reference to the dead raising. 

Magical Realist and New French Extreme are two niche genres that you could argue the show fits within.

Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. (A French media conglomerate)

Canal+ is owned by a vertically integrated conglomerate (they produce and distribute some of their content, such as Les Revenants.)

The majority of foreign films and series broadcast on Canal+ are kept in their original language with French subtitles, or with a secondary audio channel dubbed in  French.

Notice how the vast majority of their content is actually purely just licensed re-runs of shows and films from other countries.

Much like Sky, Canal+ has a hefty catalogue of sister broadcast channels including:

• Canal+ Sport
• Canal+ Cinema
• CNews
• Canal+ Family
• CStar
• C8

These cover essentially everything from fictional shows like the above, as well as news, films, documentaries. All of what one would expect to find.

What is most important is that it is known, Canal+ is the channel that produced as well as distributed Les Revenants in particular.

Online promo image for Les Revenants

The brand identity based upon promotional images like the above throws the implication that they are a brand of high quality, sophistication, some premium content. 

Despite the fact that Les Revenants is a cult show targetting a niche audience, may only do so through the ownership being owned by an enormous vertically integrated conglomerate.

At the end of the day, every media product is a balance between creating art and making a profit for the financer. so it's important to remember that.