After three months on the BFM-TV news channel, Laurent Ruquier announces his departure on Tuesday December 26. The comedian and host has decided to end the show “Le 20h de Ruquier”, due to disappointing audiences, he announced Tuesday on Instagram.
“I prefer to stop there”he wrote in an internal message revealed by the newspaper The Parisian then published on the social network Instagram. “I could hide behind the economic situation and various dramatic events which certainly have not made my task easier since my arrival but it is clear that the public has not followed me in this different role for me”, he explained. He also mentioned “audiences not up to par [ses] hopes nor the daily work that this represents.
In the email cited by The ParisianMarc-Olivier Fogiel, general director of BFM-TV, believes that “the audience (above what we did previously) is not the subject, what leads him to stop is the gap between the necessary investment and the pleasure he derives from what he can offer to viewers. » According to him, it was Laurent Ruquier, his friend, who “asked to release him from his commitment at the end of the year”.
BFM-TV in difficulty
After twenty-three years of entertainment on France 2, Laurent Ruquier, 60, created a surprise by joining BFM-TV at the start of the school year. Since September 25, he has hosted “Le 20h de Ruquier” there. Monday to Thursday on the news slot from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. “I do not regret having left France Télévisions last June for BFM-TV, because I lived these three months as an exciting and incredible experience, one that I could not imagine living, but you have to know how to accept its chess “estimated Laurent Ruquier in his message.
His current affairs debate show was in competition with “L’Heure des pros 2” by Pascal Praud (CNews), “Touche pas à mon poste” by Cyril Hanouna (C8), “Quotidien” (TMC) or “C à you” (France 5), in addition to the 8 p.m. news from the major channels. This surprise departure occurs while BFM-TV (which belongs to Altice, the group of billionaire Patrick Drahi) is going through a difficult time. Long the leading news channel in France, it is now closely followed by CNews (Canal+ group, controlled by billionaire Vincent Bolloré). In November, the latter had eroded the gap which separates it from BFM-TV over a full month (2.5% against 2.8%). And from December 4 to 10, CNews was the first news channel in terms of audience over a full week for the first time since its creation in 2017.
An emblematic figure of public service, Laurent Ruquier was in charge of the second evening parts on Saturdays on France 2 from 2006 to 2022, the year in which he gave way to Léa Salamé, who joined him in 2021 to co-present “On est en direct”, program which succeeded “On n’est pas couch”. He had given up this time slot in the summer of 2022, frustrated by co-hosting.
The host was also at the helm of the daily newspapers “We tried everything”, for seven years, and “We only ask to laugh”, for two seasons.