It is far from it, but, at LCI, we do not sulk our pleasure. In May, the news channel of the TF1 group gathered, on average, over the day, a few more viewers than CNews: 165,000 each day, compared to 162,000 for CNews.
With an audience share of 2.2%, LCI has achieved a record score since its creation in 1994, and is on a strictly equal footing with its rival from the Canal+ group. A first since May 2020, before CNews took advantage of the ripple effect caused by Eric Zemmour and the campaign for the presidential election. “It’s nice, especially when you get there with qualitative and ambitious content”welcomes Fabien Namias, the deputy general manager of LCI, not unhappy to comment “the strongest progression of all the television channels between May 2022 and May 2023”.
This indeed increases by 0.5 point, when that of CNews, with its editorial line also clearly identified, increases by 0.2 point. At 2.9% audience share, BFM-TV fell by 0.5 points (the electoral context of 2022 had taken it to record levels) and Franceinfo, at 0.7%, by 0.2 points.
“A Membership Process”
At the origin of this performance for LCI: a very long listening time. Thus, when they turned on the channel in May, its followers watched it for an average of forty-one minutes, when BFM-TV and CNews keep their viewers around thirty minutes.
Older (66 years old on average, compared to 57 years old for BFM-TV), LCI’s audience also has more ingrained habits, and is less sensitive to public holidays – which this month of May was full of. Finally, LCI has been refocusing on “international issues, with a Russian-Ukrainian predominance”which paid off. “Since we are available on Channel 26, far from channel 15 of BFM-TV and 16 of CNews, we have to be a destination channeljustifies Mr. Namias. People don’t come to us casually, but in a process of membership. »
Even at the height of the protest against the pension reform, there were therefore more certainly on LCI debates on the conflict in Ukraine, where the channel has always had at least one team for sixteen months, than counts of demonstrators. At the start of the school year, the new morning show hosted by Jean-Baptiste Boursier, from BFM-TV, should see the channel favor in this time slot the long time and decryption formats so favorable to the listening time.
Despite this upturn, LCI is not yet close to beating the competition. More reactive, BFM-TV is also undeniably more powerful, since it attracts, every day, almost twice as many people as LCI (about 11 million viewers, against 5.7 million for LCI and 7.5 million for CNews ), and three times as many working people aged 25 to 49. A public of choice, because prized by advertisers.