It was the big question for the start of the television season: who would win the audience clash between Broncano’s ‘La revuelta’ on La 1 and Motos’ ‘El hormiguero’ on Antena 3. And the answer has been… neither of the two. ‘El hormiguero’ has not dropped significantly in audience and ‘La revuelta’ has equalled it and even managed to significantly surpass it during the past week, but not at the cost of stealing viewers. How has this been possible?
A quick rundown of the numbers. To put things in context: ‘La revuelta’ has been on the air for two weeks. In the first week, ‘El hormiguero’ broke some records with the best start of the season in its history, but it depended a lot on the drive of its guests (Victoria Federica and Lamine Yamal) to beat Broncano, who surpassed it the rest of the days. The second week, Broncano did a full house, winning in the time slot in which they are strictly coincident in Spain, but losing in the daily averages of sharesince ‘El hormiguero’ lasts twenty minutes longer.
Very even. With percentages of share very high, reaching over 20% in both programmes, and with a number of viewers of around three million people, something that La 1 is not used to either, the programmes mark a strict competition that will probably not vary too much in the coming weeks. Some days one will win, other days another, and they will most likely maintain this tough fight throughout the course, barring any occasional surprises. But as we said, Broncano has achieved this without prejudice to the very high audiences of ‘El hormiguero’. And he has achieved it by bringing new viewers to the time slot, not stealing them from his rival.
Where do all these people come from? It must be said that ‘El intermedio’ especially, but also ‘First Dates’ and, of course, the cancelled ‘Babylon Show’ have lost viewers since the premiere of ‘La revuelta’. But it’s not just that: there is a young audience that was not previously present in that slot and that now appears there: one million viewers that the consultancy Dos30 estimated as a 13.9% growth of the young audience (13-24 years old) in that slot during the first week of broadcast of ‘La revuelta’ when compared to the same three days of the same week in 2023.
The invisible strip. In data from Kantar Media collected by the consultancy Barlovento Comunicación, it is possible to see which age groups prefer each programme. In children aged 4-12 (25.8% of share for Motos, 14.6% for Broncano) and seniors over 75 (19% versus 7.2%) is where there is a notable difference in audiences and advantage for Motos, but it is in the 25 to 44 age group where Broncano wins: 30.1% of share compared to 17.2%. This is the new public that previously did not watch television and that has now driven Broncano to become a fearsome rival for Trancas and Barrancas.
Young people don’t watch television? ‘La revuelta’ has thus demystified the idea that young people do not watch television. In reality, what happened is that they were not interested in programming in that age range. ‘La revuelta’ has achieved something very complicated, which is to bring them from Youtube and social networks, where ‘La resistencia’, the predecessor of the La 1 programme, was primarily consumed. In those spaces, ‘La resistencia’ was already a big one, and competed in interactions such as ‘El hormiguero’ and ‘Pasapalabra’. Good news for the business side of the matter, because that age range is the most attractive for advertisers, although on La 1 the only way to advertise is with sponsored content within the programmes.
The meaning of this audience. We are not simply talking about an audience that appears in this slot and that was not usual. Its presence is significant: on the one hand, RTVE has managed to anticipate the generational change of the television consumer, who was increasingly older and relied almost exclusively on television. boomersThe arrival of a million young viewers shows that change is possible and that all that is needed is to provide them with programmes that interest them.
Loyal audience. There are certain notes of nervousness in ‘El hormiguero’: for example, they have entrenched themselves in a “contrary” position, with Juan Del Val defining the space as “the programme that does the most damage to La Moncloa”; the reduction of advertising breaks so as not to lose the public is also noticeable. And it is not a question of losing audiences, but of Broncano’s powerful capacity for loyalty. While, as we said, ‘El hormiguero’ depends largely on its guests, the viewers of ‘La revuelta’ go to see the presenter, independently of everything else. And that capacity for loyalty is much more dangerous than all the Miguel Angel Revillas in the world.
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