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CNews Leads French TV News in 2025 With 3.4% Audience Share, Ahead of BFMTV

Longer viewing times helped by debate-led programming propelled the breakthrough.

Overview

  • CNews finished 2025 as the sole annual leader among rolling-news channels with a 3.4% share versus BFMTV’s 2.8%, according to Médiamétrie.
  • BFMTV stressed its larger cumulative reach, citing 45 million viewers in December versus 39 million for CNews and a full-year record of 60.4 million unique viewers.
  • CNews ranked sixth among all national channels for the year, just behind France 5, while TF1 led with 18.7% and France 2 posted 14.9%.
  • The channel’s rise followed TNT regrouping that put it on channel 14, longer engagement with flagship debate shows, and the November launch of the CNews Prime streaming offering.
  • Scrutiny over pluralism persisted as RSF alleged rule-bending, though regulator Arcom reported no circumvention for the month it examined, and France Télévisions’ chief labeled CNews an extreme-right channel.