Laurent Ruquier on August 31, 2023 in Paris (AFP/Archives/Emmanuel DUNAND)
He had created a surprise by joining BFMTV, but the transplant did not take: after only three months, Laurent Ruquier stopped his daily current affairs show, a new illustration of the complicated period that the news channel is going through.
“You have to know how to accept your failures,” recognized the host in an internal message revealed by the newspaper Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France then published on the social network Instagram.
“I prefer to stop there (…), it is clear that the public did not follow me as much as we hoped in this different role for me,” he wrote.
“The audience (above what we did previously) is not the subject,” assured the general director of BFMTV, Marc-Olivier Fogiel, in another internal message consulted by AFP .
“What leads him to stop is the gap between the necessary investment and the pleasure he derives from what he can offer to viewers,” continued Mr. Fogiel.
According to him, it was Laurent Ruquier who “asked to release him from his commitment at the end of the year”.
– Duel BFMTV/CNews –
After 23 years of entertainment on France 2, Ruquier, 60, created a surprise by joining BFMTV at the start of the school year. Since September 25, he has been hosting “Le 20h de Ruquier”, Monday to Thursday from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
This current affairs debate show was in competition with “L’heure des pros 2” by Pascal Praud (CNews), “Touche pas à mon poste” by Cyril Hanouna (C8), “Quotidien” (TMC) or “C à you” (France 5), in addition to the 8 p.m. news from the major channels.
According to Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France, the average audience for “8 p.m. de Ruquier” was 244,000 viewers (+12,000 compared to last season), compared to more than 800,000 for “L’heure des pros 2”, at the editorial line marked very right.
This surprise departure comes as BFMTV (which belongs to Altice, the group of billionaire Patrick Drahi) is going through a complicated period. France’s leading news channel for a long time, it is now closely followed by CNews (Canal+ group, controlled by billionaire Vincent Bolloré).
In November, the latter had eroded the gap which separates it from BFMTV over a full month (2.5% against 2.8%). In addition, CNews was the leading news channel in France over a full week twice in December (from 4 to 10 then from 18 to 24), whereas it had never been before in six years of existence .
Over the whole of 2023, BFMTV remains a good first, at 3% compared to 2.3% for CNews.
– Praud’s tribute –
In addition to the question of audiences, BFMTV recently lost several of its stars. The latest is journalist Bruce Toussaint, who is leaving for TF1, where he will host the morning news, “Bonjour!”, from January 8.
Before him, Aurélie Casse joined France 5 (in the shows “C l’hebdo” and “C à vous”), and Jean-Baptiste Boursier left for the TF1 group’s news channel, LCI.
This is in addition to recurring rumors of the sale of BFMTV by Altice, which have always been denied.
“We continue (…) calmly, in our corridor, far from the comments, to offer the best to our viewers with a solid and varied schedule,” insisted Mr. Fogiel in his internal message.
To compensate for the departure of Laurent Ruquier, the broadcasts of Yves Calvi, who preceded him, and Alice Darfeuille, who followed him, will be extended by half an hour each.
A regular at TV successes for 30 years, Ruquier experienced a resounding failure in 1995, with the end of the show “Les niouzes” on TF1 after just one week.
On the radio, he hosts “Les gros têtes” on RTL.
His competitor Pascal Praud paid tribute to him on the social network “.
© 2023 AFP
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