1 p.m. news: Marie-Sophie Lacarrau and Julian Bugier have made a success of their entry

When he left his chair at the 13 Hours of TF 1 after 33 years of reign, Jean-Pierre Pernaut had “gladly” handed over the keys to the one who took over, wishing him “good luck”.

"I pass the baton to him in all confidence," he insists in his book "33 years with you" to be published on February 11.

A month after replacing him on January 4, Marie-Sophie Lacarrau won the bet.

Not only the debauched journalist on France 2 did not destabilize the faithful of the emblematic JPP.

But it has attracted more in a context of busy news.

For its first month on the front page, it gathered 5.8 million viewers at lunchtime, or 43% of audience share, on average, the best score for a month of January since 2015, said the private channel.

Clearly, the 45-year-old brunette has conquered 800,000 additional aficionados in one year and even 200,000 more than Jean-Pierre Pernaut between September and December 2020. “She has recovered the audience of TF 1 who clearly finds themselves there in a period when we follow the news more, where they are more in front of the television, ”comments Philippe Nouchi, media expert at Publicis Media.

The France 2 news "is progressing from week to week"

While playing on continuity and proximity to the regions, the Aveyronnaise native of Villefranche-de-Rouergue is now 2.7 million viewers ahead of the 13 Hours of France 2 that it has presented since 2016, while the gap was 2.3 million in January 2020 but 2.8 million last fall.

For his part, his competitor Julian Bugier, who succeeded him on the Two, can also breathe.

The clairvoyants are green: the in-house journalist, already well identified, has gathered 3 million followers on average at midday since January 4 (22.1% of the public), an increase of 370,000 over one year and 200,000 people better than between last September and December.

Another reason for satisfaction, the 13 Hours, also focused on the regions and which has chosen to focus more on "the daily economy" while integrating new sections ("Behind our labels", "An idea for the France ”),“ progresses from week to week ”, advances France 2. And to highlight the 3.2 million viewers reached on Wednesday January 27 and a growing audience share which reduces the gap with TF 1 the last two weeks of January.

The mid-day match between the new recruits of the two channels?

“Everyone remains in their path in this context of strong news still marked by the health crisis.

We will have to wait until the end of the first half of the year to take stock, ”observes an expert in the sector.

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The increased appetite of the French for information, it also has repercussions on the evening high mass.

The 20 Hours presented by Gilles Bouleau during the week and Anne-Claire Coudray at the weekend mobilized 7 million addicts on average on TF 1 last month and achieved 27% of PDA, a record since 2015. On the Deux, the newspaper displays 5.9 million (22.6% of PDA), or 950,000 earned in one year.