how TF1 (finally) decided to broadcast the entire

If a little more than 8.7 million viewers followed the speech from the Elysée on eight channels which broadcast it, the front page hesitated until the very last moment. Explanations.

People, yes, but less than before. The press conference of President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron was followed by a total of just over 8.7 million viewers on Tuesday January 16 on all eight channels which broadcast it, according to figures from Médiamétrie on Wednesday. This press conference, a rare format for the Head of State, brought together 4.1 million viewers on TF1 and 3.2 million on France 2. It was also broadcast on the four news channels (BFMTV, CNews, LCI, franceinfo), LCP and TV5 Monde.

However, there is one channel which hesitated to broadcast the entirety before and even during this press conference: TF1. La Une was in fact the only channel not to have communicated its plan for the evening. “We do not know yet“, “It’s not settled“, we were told, while France 2, for example, had clarified to media journalists that it was canceling its soap opera Such a big sunthen his new magazine, France Grand Format, in order to distribute the intervention of Emmanuel Macron, followed by a special issue of the Event, presented by Caroline Roux.

Audiences calculated to the nearest second

Concretely, at the end of the 8 p.m. headline show – shortened for the occasion -, Gilles Bouleau told viewers that they would find their series SWAT at the end of the conference, without specifying a time. And for good reason, at 8:15 p.m.: the management of TF1 did not yet know whether it was going to broadcast (or not) the entirety of this speech from the Elysée. The famous TF1 tower waited to see the first live audience curves to decide. Several tools are in fact today capable of monitoring the number of viewers in real time, starting with an application which displays per second whether the curve is ascending or descending on the boxes. We know, for example, that BFMTV has been using this process for several years to find out whether a subject is popular or not. TF1 obviously saw that the press conference attracted viewers. This is why she finally broadcast it in full until 10:36 p.m.

In total, this press conference achieved an audience share of 41.6%: this means that four out of ten people in front of the television at that time were watching it, a performance made easier by the fact that it was very widely broadcast , according to figures from Médiamétrie. The fact remains that the cumulative audience is lower than those achieved by the Head of State in another format, the exceptional speech: 13.3 million viewers on all channels combined followed the one broadcast in October 2023 after the attack of Hamas in Israel, and 15.1 million in mid-April after the promulgation of the highly contested pension reform. In interview format by journalists on several channels, between 6 and 11 million viewers followed each of the President of the Republic’s different interventions in recent months. On December 20, nearly three million viewers listened to his two hours of interview on a single channel, France 5, in the show It’s up to you. The previous format comparable to that of Tuesday evening, the press conference on a multitude of subjects, dates back to April 25, 2019. At the time, it was followed by more than 8.5 million viewers across all six channels which broadcast it (TF1, France 2 and the four news channels), but at a different time, from approximately 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Is it really profitable for the channels?

To return to TF1, there was – also – an essential aspect in the decision-making on broadcasting in full: what to do with advertising? Because by broadcasting this program lasting just over two hours non-stop, the group has also given up on significant advertising revenue. And the least we can say is that it is not a profitable evening for a commercial channel. Moreover, M6 had chosen from the start not to rebroadcast it. TF1 has therefore deprived itself of several ad breaks at a time when they generate a lot of revenue. Note that there was not even one after the conference, just a sponsorship to launch the American series. A painful choice financially, but essential to avoid losing viewers.

But then, what is the point for the front page of broadcasting the presidential intervention? The answer is in one word: “strategic”. With 4.1 million viewers on TF1 and 3.2 million on France 2, the One won its bet to outrun the Two. It is a victory in the audience battle with the public service channel for the leading position, when the public service is banking on the Tour de France, then the Paris Olympics to get back in front. So, TF1 is trying to gain audience share now.

Another sign of this standoff: at the end of the press conference, Gilles Bouleau referred viewers to Good morning !, the morning news presented by Bruce Toussaint. However, we would have expected him to instead mention LCI, the same group’s news channel, which offered a live debrief of Emmanuel Macron’s announcements.