The difficult March for Telecinco, with ‘Sálvame’ at a minimum

This March, Mediaset is facing an unusual drop in Telecinco’s audience that is beginning to worry the Fuencarral noble plant. The distance from its main competitor, Antena 3, the audience leader since it broke its monthly hegemony in November 2021, is beginning to widen to the point that, today, it seems like an unattainable rival. The difference between the two channels, at this time, is around 2.7 points of audience share, with the first option falling in favor of Atresmedia.

In these two weeks of March, Telecinco has launched its artillery with a series of changes to try to reverse the trend. Program movements to cover the flight of viewers at a time when the war in Ukraine arouses great interest among the public. In fact, the Mediaset chain has jumped on the bandwagon of information demand and has programmed, in the coveted ‘access prime time’ slot, a current affairs format, from Monday to Friday, presented by the journalist Ana Terradillos. This project, entitled ‘Ukraine: This Cannot Be Forgotten’, has averaged a 7.1% audience share and barely 1.1 million viewers in its first three broadcasts, far from the figures for ‘El Hormiguero’, which they move on 16% of ‘share’.

The latest of the changes is in tonight’s primetime schedule. The chain has moved ‘My house is yours’, the interview format conducted by Bertín Osborne, from Monday to Saturday to replace ‘Idol Kids’, removed from the grid until further notice due to its low audience (the last gala of the ‘ talent show’ marked an 8% share). To raise these figures, Telecinco broadcasts a installment of the program in which María Teresa Campos reunites with her daughters, Terelu and Carmen Borrego, and granddaughter Alejandra Rubio after the family estrangement between them.

Thus, Osborne’s gap in Monday’s ‘prime time’ was filled by the comedy ‘La que se avecina’, whose premiere date for the new episodes was announced three days before the broadcast without the usual promotion between the rest of media. The solution, on the other hand, was satisfactory for Telecinco, since it led the night with 15.5% and 1.7 million viewers.

The ally of national fiction

National fiction, yes, has become an unexpected ally for the channel, giving them their best figures in prime time. This is also the case of ‘Entrevías’, the series starring José Coronado, which is crowned every week as the leader on Tuesday (15.3% and 1,699,000 followers). On the contrary, and despite its intense promotion, the return of ‘Pasión de Gavilanes’ did not achieve the expected goals, scoring 6.2% and 8.6% in the last two episodes this week, without even reaching the million viewers. Even the ‘reality’ of anonymous contestants ‘Secret Story: The House of Secrets’ has had to resort to popular characters, such as Belén Esteban, to boost their numbers.

A wear that has also been transferred to the afternoon slot, with ‘Save me orange’ marking its worst historical data. On Monday, for example, it marked 11.9% despite the return of one of its collaborating stars, Anabel Pantoja, while ‘Deluxe’ scored one of its lowest figures last Friday (9.1% and 891,000) with the special feminist dedicated to Rocío Jurado. «In another time we could even be impertinent with the public, but with the one we have left… we are going to protect it. We are not going to be few and on top of that we are going to kick them out, ”Jorge Javier Vázquez came to ironize with María Patiño.