TV3 closes the course improving rating, but with La 1 closer

BarcelonaThe television season has ended and has left a few tremors on the board: the shift at Televisió Espanyola, the arrival of La 2Cat, the decline of Telecinco and the rise of Cuatro are just some of the phenomena that have shaken the audience landscape, both in Catalonia and in Spain.

TV3 rises while Telecinco sinks

This has been a benevolent season for TV3 in terms of audience: the 14.5% screen share obtained from September to June means the channel improves the previous course's result by three tenths. This data allows it to boast of being the most watched autonomous television among those in the entire State. Of course, its direct rival is closing the gap: La 1's new programming model managed to surpass Antena 3 last season and mark an 8.9% share, and this year it has seen its figures improve to 10.3%. Atresmedia's first channel also rises, from 8.3% to 8.7%, but it has to settle for silver. And the most negative note comes from Telecinco, which has only managed to sign a dismal 5.4%, which places it in Catalonia even behind La Sexta – a secondary channel within its group and with a much smaller budget – which scores 5.7%.

TV3's new news programs, an irregular balance

The academic year has also been marked by the renewal of TV3's news programs, the crown jewel of the house: new presenters have joined, the image has been renewed, and the 3CatInfo news brand has been promoted so that the brand would replace both the old 3/24 (for television and web) and Catalunya Informació. The audience meters indicate one cold, one lukewarm, and one hot. The cold one is for Telenotícies migdia: if last year it recorded a 27.6% market share from Monday to Friday, during these days of the current season it has fallen to 26.0%. The lukewarm one is for the 3CatInfo channel, which closes the season with an average of 1.6%, which is the same figure as before the renewal and relaunch, with the worrying note that the average for the last four months has been 1.4%. The consolation for all this is provided by Toni Cruanyes and Raquel Sans, who at the head of Telenotícies vespre (measured only from Monday to Friday, to compare it with the previous year), improve and make the news program jump from 21.2% to 22.3%.

La 2Cat, a timid first year

RTVE's operation to strengthen Catalan within its group with the launch of La 2Cat and to establish an alternative to TV3 has not, for the moment, yielded results that could overshadow the Generalitat's media outlets. Last academic year, La 2 recorded 2.5% in Catalonia throughout the year with its usual cultural programming, mostly in Catalan. The new offering has only added three tenths to this result, reaching 2.8%, and this despite the boost from the World Cup, which allowed it to climb to 3.5% in June, thanks to match broadcasts in Catalan. If this month is excluded, the average share would drop by one tenth to 2.7%. Some programs have achieved notable figures, such as Pla seqüència, by Jordi Basté (62,000 viewers and a 3.9% share) or L’any que vas néixer, by Xavi Bundó (61,800 and 3.8%). And others have flopped, such as El segon cafè, by Cristina Villanueva, or Mamarazzis TV, which headed down the path to cancellation.

TVE soars in Spain

Antena 3 has been the most watched channel this season in Spain, but the fight for leadership is tightening thanks to the momentum experienced by La 1. Thus, Antena 3's first channel revalidated its position with a 12.8% share, an improvement of one tenth compared to a year ago. However, the 12.2% recorded by the Spanish public broadcaster is making it feel the heat thanks to having improved its mark by 1.9 points. This includes the optimal results from June for the Football World Cup, but does not yet reflect those from July, which will allow Televisión Española to further reduce this margin for the annual calculation of 2026. The contrast to all this euphoria is marked by Telecinco, which continues its downward spiral into the abyss: the 8.9% of the season is a complete failure, causing it to drop eight tenths compared to the previous year. The cultural channel La 2 has also achieved an optimal result: its 3.2% represents the best figure for the network in sixteen years.

Cuatro manages to achieve the ‘sorpasso’ over La Sexta

Mediaset's second channel seemed resigned to being a dumping ground for formats that didn't work on Telecinco and that the group didn't dare to completely cancel. For 12 seasons, it always lagged behind La Sexta, its equivalent at Atresmedia. This season, however, the roles have been reversed, as Cuatro has improved by only a tenth of a point. This has allowed it to achieve its best results in the last eight seasons, with 6.1%, and to narrowly beat La Sexta – by a tenth of a point – since Antonio García Ferreras' channel has lost six tenths of a point this season. One of the architects of Cuatro's success has been Iker Jiménez, with his program Horizonte, which has gradually shifted towards a political talk show heavily skewed to the right, while gaining broadcast days. The average for all programs reaches 8.4% – well above the channel's overall figure – with specific days on which it exceeds 10%. In Catalonia, its preaching is notably lower, with only a 4.7% market share.

‘Com si fos ahir’, a record

TV3's daily series is now in its ninth season and remains more than fresh in terms of audience. The 19.4% achieved this season is the best season data, up 1.3 points compared to a year ago, and almost 3 points if we compare it to two seasons ago. Every day, an average of 226,000 people watch a series on television that also has a large following on the 3Cat platform. The Catalan public channel has premiered other titles this season, with mixed success. Regarding premieres of prime time, Our house Dani de la Orden scored 10.7%, which did not allow him to reach the channel's average, but it is a series designed mainly for the digital channel as well. Leticia Dolera achieved 13% with the series "Puberty, and an average of 198,700 viewers, which is especially commendable considering that the series had premiered months earlier on the HBO platform. And the best result is achieved by Vintage, which exceeds the chain's average by 15.5% of share and 239,000 viewers on average. In contrast, Day or it punctured and did not exceed 7.9% of the audience share and 102,000 viewers.

The 1, leader in fiction in the State with the history of Spain

The most watched film on television during the academic year was Mientras dure la guerra, broadcast by La 1. This film by Alejandro Amenábar about the figure of Miguel de Unamuno achieved a 16.2% share and 1,827,000 viewers. In Catalonia it also obtained very good results, despite being a 2019 title: 223,000 followers and 15.6%. Regarding series, the most followed in Spain was Anatomía de un instante, which narrates from the book by Javier Cercas the coup d'état of 23-F. Its broadcast by La 1 –four episodes in one go– achieved a 15.4% share and 1,360,000 viewers. In Catalonia it performed even better, with a 15.6% share.

Football is still king

A look at the twenty-five most-watched television broadcasts during the season in Spain shows that football continues to be the main asset for a channel, and La 1 of TVE has milked this option, as La 1 occupies twenty-four positions in the ranking, mostly with matches from the World Cup and the Copa del Rey. The public television also places five spaces related to New Year's Eve there, in which it managed to lead, ahead of Cristina Pedroche on Antena 3. The first channel of Atresmedia has to settle for a single entry in the ranking: that of the Pasapalabra episode on February 5, during which one of the program's millionaire jackpots was awarded and which managed to gather an average of 3,696,000 people in front of the screen, 36.8% of those who were watching television at that time. In Catalonia, however, it had to settle for 31.4% and 341,000 viewers.

Antena 3 still dominates the news in Spain

TV3 has undeniably led news programs in Catalonia for decades. In the Spanish market, however, the dominance belongs to Antena 3, although some trend changes are observed, mainly related to the rise experienced by La 1 with its new, more politicized formula. Thus, the Atresmedia channel achieves a 19.4% share for its entire news offering, while La 1 has to settle for second place with 14.6% – in this case, adding the audience of La 1 plus that of 24 Horas, which broadcasts the same news program simultaneously. Much further behind are Telecinco (8.3%), La Sexta (7.6%), and Cuatro (6.5%). Antena 3's dominance is evident both at midday and in the evening. In contrast, La 1 achieves the most-watched newscast on weekend evenings, registering 1,381,000 viewers, 11,000 more than its direct competitor. In share, however, the private channel surpasses the public one by two tenths, 12.7% versus 12.5%. The ranking also shifts on Saturdays and Sundays for La Sexta, when at midday it drops below Cuatro (8.1% versus 7.8%).