Paris (AFP)

The time spent by the French in front of television, which has broken records since the entry into force of containment, reached a new historic high in April, with 4:40 on average per person per day, 11 minutes more than March, according to data from Médiamétrie published Monday.

The trend at work since March 17 is therefore confirmed, with consumption of television programs quite extraordinary.

In a press release published on April 23, Médiamétrie specified that "the increase in the audience is observed from 8 am in the morning and is confirmed throughout the day", with peaks "markedly more marked" and which " at the time of the news logs from 1 and 8 pm ".

In addition, listening time increased by around 50% among 15-24 year olds.

By channels, TF1 remains at the top of the podium with an audience share of 18.9%, all categories of viewers combined (-0.3 point over a year), ahead of France 2 (+0.6 point to 14.3 %) and M6 (up 0.1 points to 9%), while France 3 lost 0.6 points to 8.6%.

France 5 lost 0.1 point to 3.4%, and Arte signs a historic record (+0.3 point to 2.8%) while Canal +, temporarily cleared at the start of containment, regains audience share more modest (-0.2 point to 1.1%), after a jump to 1.6% in March.

The news channels, much watched since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, remain up sharply over the year but only LCI is doing even better than in March.

BFMTV thus gained 1 point over a year at 3.4%, while LCI rose by 0.6 points to 1.6%. CNews also gained 0.6 points to 1.4% and franceinfo closed the march (+0.1 points to 0.6%).

Among DTT channels, generally in decline in favor of their historic rivals and news channels, TMC (-0.4 point to 2.7%) remains ahead of C8 (-0.7 point to 2.4 %). W9 was stable at 2.7% and RMC Découverte gained 0.4 points to 2.5%. France 4, which changed into an educational channel on March 23, lost 0.4 points to 1.2%.

Médiamétrie specifies that these monthly data include, for the first time, television viewing outside the home and on the move (especially with relatives and friends, on vacation, in transport, etc.) for 15 year olds and more.

For television channels, the exceptional audiences recorded during this "great containment", which mainly benefit the news, great family films and flagship entertainment programs, however, have a bitter taste because the economic crisis caused by the Covid -19 will drop their advertising revenues, squeezing their financial prospects.

© 2020 AFP