Médiamétrie, the body responsible for measuring television audiences, cannot get over it. In March 2020, the French spent 4.29 hours in front of their television set, compared to 3:45 a year ago. A gain of almost three quarters of an hour per day. This is the result of the confinement of the whole of France for two weeks. “Since the start of the coronavirus epidemic and especially since the containment measures announced on March 16, the French have been spending more time in front of the television. The average individual viewing time for TV in March 2020 was 4:29, its highest historic level, ” details Médiamétrie in its press release.
Since the start of the coronavirus epidemic and especially since the containment measures announced on March 16, the French have been spending more time in front of the television.
MediametryNews channels are the big winners of this French craze. BFMTV reached a historic record, at 4.1% audience, followed by LCI, which reached the 1.5% mark for the first time. CNews is not far behind, with 1.4%, and Franceinfo shows 0.7%.
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The audience shares reflecting the relative weight of each channel on a total of 100%, if the news channels climb, the others automatically lose ground. As a result, the general-interest channels posted audience shares in decline even if they attracted more viewers in absolute value. France 3 lost 0.6 points, TF1 lost 1.1 points, to 18.9% audience, and M6 dropped 0.3 points, to 8.6%. The exception is France 2, which climbed to 14.6%, 0.8 points better than last year.
