Esther Mucientes Madrid
Madrid
Updated Tuesday, February 6, 2024-21:24
There is a new paradigm in linear television in Spain:
there is no longer a fight to climb to the top of the podium but to hold on to the second step
. With Antena 3 untouchable (it closed January for its twenty-seventh month as leader), the great battle is underway for second place.
Telecinco
and
La 1
maintain a bid in which every month, since last July when the public channel relegated Telecinco to third place,
second place is decided in the photo finish
. One month one wins, another month another wins and the difference is so tight that to give the exact audience data for both networks you almost have to look at the thousandths.
Both
Telecinco
and
La 1
are aware of everything that is at stake and, literally, according to television market sources,
"they are going all out
. "
La 1 has closed 2023 with its best annual figure since 2018 (9.7%), six tenths more than in 2022. Telecinco, for its part, has managed to retain second place at the end of 2023, but having the worst year of its story with an average 10.4% screen share. A respite, in a way, after a more than complicated year for Mediaset's main network.
"It's like the game of chairs, every month one pushes the other to be able to sit down
," say sources from the television industry.
What these data show is that while one tries to surpass the other, the other tries to survive and to this end both chains have not hesitated in 2023, and it seems that they will not hesitate in 2024 either, to try everything they can and to spend as much as they can. whatever it takes to get that second position and, above all, maintain it. The problem is that while one is a private chain well positioned financially, the other is a public chain that
has to justify every last euro spent,
required by the Transparency Law.
How much has La 1 spent on new formats in 2023 in its fight with Telecinco?
"The budget allocated in 2023 to the broadcast of content and programming on La 1 was 291,125,573 euros"
Elena Sánchez, president of RTVE
On January 8, the acting president of the Public Corporation,
Elena Sánchez
, responded to a parliamentary question posed by several PP deputies about what the budget allocated in 2023 to La 1 programming content had been and what the difference with the amount initially budgeted. Sánchez's response was the following: "The budget allocated in 2023 to the broadcast of content and programming on La 1 was
291,125,573 euros
. The expenditure on La 1 with data from the accounting closing of November has been 268,957,190 euros. -December would need to be added in the absence of data-". These data correspond to all broadcasts and all content. The bet increases by 2024. As this newspaper has learned,
the forecast is 6% more for content
.
The curious thing in this war is that La 1 spent
more than 34 million euros
alone in the second half of 2023 - from July to December - and on new entertainment formats alone . The public network premiered 12 new programs from July to December, of which only two can be classified as successful, considering successes
those whose audience was above the network's average
(at the end of 2023, 9.7%). With them and with other classics, such as
MasterChef Junior
, which returned to public television in December for a cost of 3.8 million or the second season of
Incredible Duos
, which cost the coffers of the Public Corporation 6 million for a total of 10 installments,
La 1
has gradually gained enough audience to fight the battle with Telecinco.
The accounting breakdown and the audiences of these 12 new formats show the interest and almost the obsession of RTVE to not only surpass Telecinco, which has already done so for several months, but also to not lose that place in any month. And if to do so you have to attack with all your weapons, you attack. From July onwards, RTVE premiered the following programs:
José Mota Live
,
El Grand Prix
,
El Puente de las Lies
(1.7 million for six installments),
Mañaneros
(3 million for the first 42 installments and 3.4 for the next 106 ),
El Conquistador
(5.6 million),
La Plaza de La 1
(2 million),
La Moderna
(7.9 million for 120 deliveries),
Everything changes
(1.2 million),
I don't know what you're talking about
and
Nada from the other world
(660,000 for a delivery that includes the contract and the addendum).
Of all of them, only José Mota's program
(2,150,246 euros for seven installments)
and El Grand Prix
(3,807,000 euros)
exceeded the network average, especially the program presented by
Ramón García
, which
garnered a quota screen size of 19.4% on average
. The rest had an average audience that in no case exceeded the 9.7% average of La 1, nor the 9%
share
.
The cost of each of these programs shows the public entity's clear commitment to entertainment and to removing Telecinco's chair. For example,
El Conquistador
, which in its 14 episodes had an average
audience share of 8.8%
despite being one of RTVE's big bets last season.
La Plaza de La 1
, the evening show with which La 1 wanted to compete against
Sonsoles Ónega
and
Ana Rosa Quintana
, lasted exactly eight broadcasts, from September 27 to October 6, after signing an average 6.7% share.
La Moderna
, the afternoon series with which La 1 hoped to once again reap the great success achieved with
La Promesa
, had an average audience rating of 8.2% from September to December 2023. The rest of the programs were between the 5.7% that made
Nothing from the Other World
and 8.9% that made
The Bridge of Lies
.
Between July and December 2023, Telecinco has launched 19 new formats: only five of them have exceeded the network's average audience
It must also be taken into account that most of the public channel's highest ratings moments have been thanks to special programs, such as the broadcast of
Eurovision
or the
Benidorm Fest
, or to sports programs.
The Copa del Rey
, the
Champions League
and the
Women's World Cup
have been great ratings successes for La 1. In fact, sports events work so well for RTVE that it has already taken over the broadcast of the
Olympic Games
for a total of
60 million euros
, as confirmed by sources close to the negotiation, and with the
Euro Cup of Nations for 40 million euros
. In addition, the cost of production and customization of these events would have to be added. "Sport guarantees a month of leadership in programming," say different sources.
On the other side,
Telecinco,
fighting against La 1, but also fighting to ensure that its new image ends up penetrating the viewer. Being a private channel, it is not obliged, as in the case of RTVE, to Transparency regulations, so it does not have to make public the cost of its programs. However, like La 1, Mediaset's main channel has also entered the battle with all possible cargo.
It had been many years since Telecinco had released so many formats in such a short time.
From July to December 2023, it premiered 19 new entertainment formats
, of which, according to Kantar Media data, can be considered successful (the network closed the season at 10.4%), only five of them:
La Mirada Crítica
(11 .9% share),
Let's see
(12.7%),
TardeAR
(10.4%),
¡De Viernes!
(12.6%) and
Martian Chronicles: the reunion
(14.2%). The remaining 14 were all below double digits:
The Betrayal
,
The Last Night
,
Chinese Tales
,
The Musical of Your Life
,
Desnudos por la vida
,
Bosé
,
100% Únicos
or
A tu pelota
.
Another problem that also continues to diminish Telecinco's audiences and that has caused this fierce battle with public television is that the new premieres in certain time slots have worsened the data of the previous formats. For example, although
La Mirada Crítica
and
Vamos a ver
are two of Telecinco's successes, the first
has lost 3.9 points and the second 3.6 audience points with respect to the data that
Ana Rosa's Program
did in the same dates last year.
Even so, it seems that the beginning of the year has shed some light on Telecinco, although it returned to third place in January, with the premieres of
The Island of Temptations
, whose seventh edition has made the Mediaset network the leading
Wednesday
prime time
network; or
GH Dúo
, which is scoring audiences more than two points above the network. The trend is clear: when La 1 goes down Telecinco goes up, when Telecinco goes down La 1 goes up. And neither wants to lose at any cost.