The gap is closing between the two main 24-hour news channels. Led in particular by Pascal Praud, CNews is getting closer and closer to BFMTV in terms of audiences for the month of November, according to figures from Médiamétrie published on Monday.
The Altice group channel remains at the top of the news channels with 2.8% PDA, up 0.1 point compared to a year earlier. But CNews gained 0.4 points over one year and is close behind, with a 2.5% audience share. Third is LCI (TF1 group), with 1.8% (-0.2 points over one year), followed by the public channel France Info (0.8%, +0.1).
CNews, which is pleased to experience the “strongest growth among news channels”, reached its best monthly audience since its creation in October, with 2.7% PDA. The channel belongs to the Canal+ group, itself controlled by Vivendi, the group of billionaire Vincent Bolloré. This is also the case for C8, a channel whose controversial host Cyril Hanouna is the star.
BFMTV remains leader
Regularly accused by left-wing figures of promoting the ultra-conservative ideas attributed to Vincent Bolloré, CNews was created in 2017 from the ashes of iTélé. For its part, BFMTV emphasized in a press release that it is “a very large news leader”, with a cumulative 12.4 million viewers per day, ahead of CNews which has 8.2 million.
The channel has had several headliners stolen this season. In addition to Bruce Toussaint, who will host a new morning show on TF1 from January, Jean-Baptiste Boursier and Aurélie Casse joined LCI and France Télévisions respectively at the start of the school year. She responded by recruiting Laurent Ruquier for her 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. slot from Monday to Thursday.
For its part, LCI (TF1 group), which had progressed recently thanks to its international prism and its coverage of the war in Ukraine, does not seem to benefit from the news marked by the Israel-Hamas war. But the channel is pleased to sign “the strongest progression” among the CSP + (higher socio-professional categories) of news channels at +0.3 points in one year.