You might as well start by getting rid of the annoying questions. From the start of the press conference for the launch of the digital channel BFM2, Monday September 30, Nicolas de Tavernost, president and CEO of RMC-BFM, attempted a touch of humor to evoke the fact that the BFM-TV channel had been overtaken by its rival CNews during the month of September. “As Marc-Olivier Fogiel and Hervé Béroud are a bit of a tease, they gave me the second place in June and September, so that we are motivated to regain our first place”launched the former chairman of the management board of the M6 group, while MM. Fogiel and Béroud today gave up their places to Fabien Namias and Jean-Philippe Baille, respectively from LCI and Franceinfo.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Marc-Olivier Fogiel and Hervé Béroud leave BFM-TV, which recruits two new managers at LCI and Radio France
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The average audience for September actually places CNews in the lead ahead of BFM-TV, according to figures from Médiamétrie: 3.2% audience share in this back-to-school month for the channel owned by the Vivendi group, whose main shareholder is Vincent Bolloré , compared to 2.9% audience for the channel bought by Rodolphe Saadé, the Franco-Lebanese shipowner at the head of the CMA-CGM company.
LCI, the TF1 group channel, had an audience share of 1.7%, while the public channel FranceTVinfo brought up the rear with 1%. Although CNews has climbed 0.7 points in the space of a year, while BFM-TV has lost 0.2 points, Nicolas de Tavernost wants to be reassuring. “With 12.3 million cumulative daily viewers” – compared to 8.6 million people for CNews, “BFM-TV remains in the lead, particularly among 25-49 year olds”. Even if they spend less time in front of BFM-TV than in front of CNews (twenty-five minutes of average listening time compared to thirty-nine minutes).
“A marathon, not a sprint”
It is precisely in the idea of “stick to changes in uses” that the group launched the digital channel BFM2 on Wednesday September 25. This should make it possible to follow live events – raw or with commentary – which do not find their place on BFM-TV. The general policy declaration of the Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, could thus be broadcast live and in its entirety on Tuesday 1is October, when BFM-TV will be divided between monitoring the conflict in the Middle East, French politics and current affairs debates. The video clips created for social networks will also be broadcast on the online channel, which will therefore not only be live. “It’s a complementary service to BFM-TV”summarizes Julien Mielcarek, deputy director of digital information.
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