Héloïse Goy, with Alexis Patri
French news channels have enjoyed record audiences since the start of the new phase of the war in Ukraine, which began with the Russian invasions of February 24. The audiences of BFMTV, LCI, Cnews and FranceInfo testify to the interest and concern of the French in the face of this international conflict.
43 million. This is the cumulative number of French viewers who were in front of their television last Thursday February 24 to watch BFMTV, LCI, CNews and Franceinfo. 43 million viewers watching the four French continuous news channels is 12 million more than a “normal” day, that is to say without strong news. A few hours after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on the night of last Wednesday to Thursday, these four news channels were put on special edition.
During this first day of war, BFMTV arrived as news leader, bringing together 7.7% of the public in front of its television. On the 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. slot, BFMTV was even the most watched channel in France, thanks to its special edition presented by Bruce Toussaint. The enthusiasm of the French for the information carried on the channel 15 of the TNT was confirmed the following days.
Audience records for all channels
For its part, CNews broke its audience record this week, bringing together an average of 2.7% of the public. LCI doubled its regular audience to reach 2.4% of viewers. With this figure, the chain equaled its historical record. It should be remembered that LCI is an older channel which has experienced other major events, such as September 11, 2001.
Franceinfo, channel 27 and the most recent DTT news channel (created in 2016), has also doubled its audiences. This public service channel, which provides a special edition 24 hours a day, thanks in particular to journalists from France 2 and France 3, reached an average audience of 1.6% from Thursday to Sunday.