Unsurprisingly, the summer was particularly complicated for the first channel, which experienced a historic low in August while France 2 took advantage of the Games to set a new record.
The Olympic Games were indeed the historic event that France Télévisions had been waiting for. The Paris Games generated real enthusiasm and the public service took advantage of this to set a string of audience records. So much so that after dethroning TF1 in July for the first time since the privatization of the front page, France 2 experienced its highest ever.
With no less than 23.3% audience share in August, the second channel recorded its best result since 2006 and the beginning of the modern era of audience measurement by Médiamétrie. Better still, according to Le Parisien, you have to go back to July 2000 to find a higher audience. After being the most-watched channel for 18 days in a row between Thursday, July 25 and Sunday, August 11, with a peak of 46.6% audience share on the last day of the Games, France 2 resumed its forward march during the Paralympic Games.
A record of mediocrity
And the Games obviously also benefited France 3, which had an average audience of 10.7% with a better mark at 17.8% on Monday August 5. The third channel had not been to such a party in summer since 2012.
Conversely, TF1 had a nightmare month of August since in addition to having to settle for second place, the front page experienced its lowest ever with only 16.9% on average. Its worst result since its privatization was until then 17.7% in September and October 2022, according to Puremédias. Note that if the front page experienced hell during the Games, with in particular a record of mediocrity on August 11 with 11%, it did not go crazy the rest of the month, having to settle for 19.5 on non-Olympic days.
