Confined… in front of his TV! For 11 days, the French have been cloistered at home and their televisions have rarely heated as much. An evidence? Yes, but if the Médiamétrie figures are to be believed, the rush to the living room screen has reached levels never seen in three decades. And it is especially the good old television of papa which profits from the crisis.
Between Monday March 16, the day of Emmanuel Macron's announcement of the general confinement, and Sunday March 22, each of our fellow citizens spent an average of 4.48 hours per day in front of their posts. A duration up 57 minutes compared to the previous week when they watched it 3:51 on average. A peak at 5:15 was even measured last Sunday!
Almost 5 hours in front of the TV, it's unheard of since 1990! The previous record was between the two presidential towers in 2012. “TV consumption has increased by almost 37%! This shows the central role of this media to support the French in this period of crisis. It brings together all generations, ”notes Julien Rosanvallon, Executive Director Television and Internet of Médiamétrie. He notes that 15/24 year olds have also almost doubled their viewing time, going from 1h47 a day in front of the television, against 59 minutes a year earlier.
The JT fill up
After applauding from the window to pay tribute to the nursing staff, the French flock to their remote control. In these times of crisis, television news is a landmark: 43.4 million French people watched at least one 20 Hours last week (compared to 29.5 million in the same period in 2019). An increase of 47% compared to a typical week!
They were 35 million French before the speech of President Emmanuel Macron on March 16, an absolute record, and more than 24 million still followed his statement from Mulhouse on Wednesday.
The 20 Hours of TF1 saw its audiences jump by 57% compared to last year, with 9 million viewers on average in the first week (30% of the public). That of France 2 increased by 78% (8 million, 27% of PDA). An increase of 43% also for the national part of "19/20" by Carole Gaessler on France 3 and by 41% for "Le 19.45" by M6. Same trends at 1pm, where the editions have broken records over 10 years old! Topical talk shows like "C in the air", "C to you" or "Daily" are also at the top.
Info channels galore
The four French news channels have doubled their market share since the start of containment. BFMTV is even the fifth most watched channel in the country, behind TF1, France 2, M6 and France 3 (and even the first in France between 6 am and noon) with 5% of PDA. It is ahead of LCI (1.8%), CNews (1.7%) and franceinfo (0.9%).
In loop on the subject, these channels devoted 75% of their airtime to the coronavirus and its consequences according to a study by the National Audiovisual Institute (INA). "This represents an average daily hourly volume of 13 hours and 30 minutes per day and per news channel," explains the INA, for which CNews is the channel that has changed the subject most with "only" 12:57 p.m. per day on the pandemic against 1:54 pm for BFMTV.
In prime time, we stay or we zap
“The increase in consumption can be observed throughout the day. As a bonus, the level is much higher than usual, ”notes Julien Rosanvallon of Médiamétrie. Last week, 28.2 million people watched TV on average between 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. compared to 23.5 million in 2019. An increase of 20% in one year on this time slot. On the other hand, it remains weaker than at the time of the JT and many of you turn off at the end of the 20 Hours. Usually at 9:30 p.m., the television consumption peak is currently between 8:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., depending on the day.
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Entertainment - "The Voice", "Koh-Lanta", "Top Chef" or "Le Morning Night", "Burger Quiz" in the evening and games during the day -, fictions like "The Red Bracelets", "profiling" or the Arte movie nights have gained followers, proof that the French need to get away from it all. But they seem increasingly unable to take an interest in other news than that related to the coronavirus, as evidenced by the gadgets of magazines such as "Roots and wings", "History secrets" or "Exhibits »…
Netflix not so strong
For channels, the real good news comes from elsewhere: the consumption of catch-up (replay) and video-on-demand platforms, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, has increased, of course. But much less than that of traditional television. “The replay went from 5 to 6 minutes a day and per viewer. An increase of 20% which remains relatively modest compared to the direct ”, observes Julien Rosanvallon.
On Netflix, the trend is even clearer. "It is increasing, but it does not overturn the table," says Philippe Bailly, who heads the expertise company NPA Conseil. Last week, we recorded the highest consumption of SVOD since January 2019, with 9.9% of those over 15 who watched at least one SVOD program on Saturday March 21. However, we remain very close to the figures recorded last January. We also see that the French watch more films and fewer series because they have the time, ”he adds.
The slightest influx to Netflix should put some relief in TF1, M6, France 2, etc. who have seen their antennas deserted by advertising for a week.
