"There is a wear and tear on the format, to which are added a stronger abstention than during the last election and the fact that it is the repetition of a duel which many French people did not want", analysis with AFP Alexis Lévrier, media historian at the University of Reims.
Nearly 15.6 million viewers watched the Marine Le Pen-Emmanuel Macron debate on all the channels that broadcast it on Wednesday evening, the worst audience for this type of program since its creation in 1974, according to figures from Médiamétrie transmitted Thursday.
"There is a form of weariness, even disgust, for all those who did not want this return match," said Mr. Lévrier.
In 2017, there were 16.5 million watching the same finalists.
A score lower than those of 2012 and 2007, but close to that of the debate between Lionel Jospin and Jacques Chirac in 1995 and its 16.8 million viewers.
The first debate between the two rounds, which opposed Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand on May 10, 1974, had gathered around 25 million viewers.
And the next in 1981, with the same finalists, 30 million!
A campaign that was slow to start
"The format has changed very little since its creation with journalists almost reduced to the function of stopwatches", points out Mr. Lévrier again.
In 1974, we tried to stick to American standards, drawing inspiration from the first duel on the small screen in history between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy in 1960.
This year, the debate was broadcast not only by the organizing channels, TF1 and France 2 (14.05 million viewers between them, or 61.4% audience share), but also by parliamentary channels and of information.
And a big first for the younger generation, who are less interested in politics in its traditional form and are also less inclined to watch the small screen: four streamers broadcast it on their Twitch channels, totaling 278,000 viewers at peak audience. cumulative (around 10:00 p.m.), according to the specialized data site Twitch Tracker.
"The French generally have less and less appetite for political broadcasts and for voting", comments Arnaud Mercier, specialist in political communication at the Parisian University Panthéon-Assas.
Thus, on France Télévisions, "Elysée 2022", the star political program, was watched by 1.7 million people on April 5 - the last before the first round -, i.e. an audience share of 8, 5%, and by 1.9 million (10.7% of PDA), on March 31, according to Médiamétrie.
By way of comparison, the program broadcast by France 2 before the 2017 presidential election had attracted more than 3 million viewers (and an audience share of around 15%) during its last two issues, with candidates François Fillon then Emmanuel Macron as guests.
The traditional channels have begun to draw the consequences of this lack of interest: an unprecedented fact, TF1 had decided to shorten the election evening of the first round of the presidential election to broadcast the film "The visitors" which is a hit with each TV appearance.
According to Mr. Mercier, "we observe a certain disaffection of the French for politics in the sense of the partisan game. They engage through other forms of activism, the defense of specific causes, mobilize on social networks, during street demonstrations, petitions".
As a result, political broadcasts, where traditional representatives are invited, are less interesting.
In addition, the election campaign was slow to start: after the pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February took center stage.
The media took advantage of this to play cards other than the presidential campaign: the news channels in particular grew in size, taking advantage of audiences boosted by the Ukrainian conflict.
© 2022 AFP