A salutary initiative by the public service to have extended its 8 p.m. schedule to delve deeper into the news and make it better understood… But, a month after its launch, the audience gap is widening with TF1.
The 8 p.m. news on France 2 is presented by Anne-Sophie Lapix during the week. Screenshot France Télévisions
By François Rousseaux
Published on October 8, 2024 at 4:05 p.m.
Pand it was Monday, yesterday again, for the 8 p.m. news on France 2: the new formula only attracted 3.5 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 8:50 p.m. (16.9% of the public watching television), according to Médiamétrie . Inexpensive to pay for this edition largely devoted to the commemorations of the October 7 attacks, which has one of the lowest audience shares since the arrival of the extended news a month ago. A new JT which is doing business for TF1: the gap continues to widen, and, on certain evenings, the front page has two million viewers ahead of the second.
By allowing itself the luxury of time, investigations and long reports abroad, the high mass of public service has at this stage not succeeded in its comeback. She is not helped by those who went, at the same time, to sister channel France 3 to follow the soap opera – now an internal rival – Such a big sun (previously broadcast on France 2 after the news).
No obsession with the audience
But should we throw the baby out with the bathwater? No. The public audiovisual service, mistreated by part of the political class, suspended by the uncertainty of its financing, is taking on the difficult challenge of offering 51 minutes of decrypted news every evening, compared to 35 to 40 before the summer. But at what cost? At France Télé, journalists are working in tight flow to produce more, even if, since last Monday, the news has lost three minutes, officially to allow the early evening programs to start on time. “We are united with our management, but divided, confides a reporter from 8 p.m. We want it to work. Great stories enhance our work. But doesn’t the length scare away the public? How to find the right rhythm? »
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Back to TV: on France 2, the 8 p.m. news (almost) twice as long
Management says “proud” and seems determined to give this XXL 8 p.m. time to settle in. “We produce an in-depth newspaper, which meets our public service mission. The audience is not our obsession”, underlines Muriel Pleynet, editor-in-chief. What strategy will France Télévisions adopt to conquer an anxious and highly sought-after audience? It has already noted that, for the Christmas and summer holidays, the news would return to its classic duration, due to a lack of available troops.
