Paris (AFP)

Confined and stuck in front of the TV: the French watched 4H29 television on average each day in March, a record, between heavy consumption of information, "Koh Lanta" and cinema classics.

The Médiamétrie Institute announced this figure on Monday: it is the "highest historic level" of media audience, with 44 minutes more than in March 2019. In this very special March, even the duration of listening to young people (15-24 years old) went from 1h03 to 1h29, reports Médiamétrie.

The television news, devoted almost entirely to the coronavirus crisis, punctuated these first two weeks of confinement. The 20H news broadcast attracted up to 11.8 million spectators on Monday March 23 on TF1 or 8.9 million on Tuesday March 24 on France 2. The M6 ​​newspapers also record records.

BFMTV achieved the best month in its history, becoming the 5th channel in France with 4.1% audience share (+1.9 point over a year) and 14.7 million viewers per day. LCI equaled its historic monthly record at 1.5% (+0.5), CNews rose to 1.4% (+0.6), Franceinfo to 0.7% (+0.2).

President Emmanuel Macron's speech on Monday March 16 was notably followed by a total of 35.3 million viewers on all the channels that broadcast it (TF1, France 2, France 3, M6, C8, TMC, L '' Team, BFMTV, LCI, CNews and franceinfo).

- Family breaks -

Before or after the news, the French were also entertained with "Koh Lanta" on TF1 (6.5 million viewers on Friday March 20 and 27), "Beijing Express" on M6 (3.4 million on Tuesday March 17) , the American series "Profilage" (TF1), and "Why women kill" (M6) or the French fiction "Cassandre" on France 3.

Private television groups should not, however, take advantage of these audiences, as advertisers are very cautious in the face of the coming economic crisis. The TF1 group has warned that it is suspending its financial targets announced last February. The chairman of the M6 ​​group's executive board, Nicolas de Tavernost, said he expected "a significant impact on the second quarter, which is still very difficult to quantify", and consequences which could extend to the third quarter.

The general-interest channels have also seen their audience shares decline in the face of the good performance of the continuous news channels. In March, TF1 remained the leader but saw its audience share drop sharply to 18.9% (-1.1 point over a year), France 3 was down (-0.6) to 8.5% , exceeded by M6 at 8.6% (-0.3).

France 5 fell slightly (3.7, -0.1). The audience shares of TMC (2.8%, -0.1) and C8 (2.7, -0.4) also fell. Arte, which was very successful, brakes to 2.5% (+0.1).

Only France 2 rose sharply to 14.6% (+0.8), notably with the success of its heritage films like "La grande vadrouille", which attracted more than 5 million viewers on Sunday, March 22.

Canal + also pulls out of the game with its exceptionally clear ranges offered, and reached 1.6% audience (+0.4).

The total viewing time of the TV includes consumption on the television screen and internet screens (computer, tablet, smartphone), live as well as deferred or catch-up.

It is measured by the Médiamétrie institute with a representative panel of people residing in metropolitan France, made up of 11,556 individuals aged 4 and over living in 5,000 homes, equipped with a device that records their choices.

© 2020 AFP