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One year ago, on June 23, 2023, it ended Save me and Telecinco entered a new era. The new leadership of Mediaset sent a clear message: they wanted to make a clean break with the old Telecinco, one in which controversy was the order of the day. The greatest symbol of that Telecinco was Save me, a program that had come to occupy five hours a day live. Some of its characters and collaborators were then banished from the channel. A year later it is time to take stock. What is the new Telecinco like? Is there that much difference in its contents with that of the past? How has the audience responded? What are your next steps?
“The viewer needs to be clear about what they will find when they go to a channel, and in the last year Telecinco has been a bit lost,” says Carolina Abellán, professor in the Department of Journalism and Global Communication at the Complutense University of Madrid. That restructuring of the channel sought to offer viewers whiter and more familiar programming, or that was the message that came from the communication group. That is to say, Telecinco wanted to be more Antena 3. To achieve this, it reinforced its ethical code to further differentiate entertainment content from political content, and also introduced new rules to avoid controversial situations in the realities. However, the reality is that in AfternoonARwhich was presented as a program without politics, political editorials appear from time to time, and the current Survivors It has been one of the most controversial in memory both in front of and behind the cameras. Even a contestant who was expelled from the program is received with honors on the network’s sets.
For José Antonio Cortés, academic coordinator of the Marketing degree at the International University of La Rioja, the modification of the grid that Mediaset has made has not had a positive result. “The network still hasn’t found the key to one or several programs that would achieve an audience similar to Save me. The audience gap they have in the afternoon is large and that also hinders the programs that come after them,” he says. The expert recalls that the loss of viewers is a phenomenon common to all traditional television “due to the large generational gap that exists in terms of audiovisual consumption: new generations have digital consumption where platforms such as Twitch, applications such as TikTok or OTTs [plantaformas de streaming] like Netflix or Prime Video reign above linear television.”
“Changing the DNA of a television company that is more than 30 years old is complicated because you confuse your viewers, who when they turn on the television do not see what they came looking for,” adds Carolina Abellán. “Telecinco wanted to copy the model that works so well for Antena 3. This is something that the audience does not understand, since the type of content that Telecinco offered was unique and focused on a very specific audience,” she adds.
One of the most striking aspects of the new Telecinco is how it has insisted on searching for formats in the past. there you (which started in 2004), dancing with the stars (basically, Look who is dancingwhich landed in Spain in 2005), Friday (very similar to Pink sauce, which aired between 2002 and 2006), Big Brother (it has had a VIP and Duo edition and is already preparing its return with strangers), X Factor (the first delivery in Spain was in 2007), I slip (since 2013)… A large part of the programs that have operated in prime time this season on Telecinco were inherited from the old Telecinco (GH, Survivors, Temptation Island…). “Just as there is a generational gap in consumers, it also happens with directors and heads of production companies. In linear television, looking to the past is not usually the solution,” reflects José Antonio Cortés.
The audience data is clear: this May, the last full month for which the average audience has been published, Telecinco has been the second most watched channel in Spain with a 10.5% screen share; In May 2023 it was second but with an 11.5% share. Although there is one point of difference: if you look at the evolution of this last year, you can see that since its summer lows (9.3% in July and 9% in August) it has managed to recover and stabilize to leave the third place it had reached. fallen. “Lower a point of Compartir In one year it is not something catastrophic,” says Abellán, “the problem is knowing that information and not doing anything about it. There are formats on Telecinco with very poor audiences and the network continues to maintain them without making any changes. “That ends up exhausting both the team that creates the content and the viewers.”
For these experts, one of the keys to the future of Telecinco will be in its definition as a channel. “Telecinco was a bit of a badass show, live fun and Lydia Lozano crying or dancing. chuminero. And from one day to the next, you go from that to offering an electoral analysis. The change is disconcerting. Can the viewer get used to it? You can, but it takes time. As a television company, the most important thing is to know what you are and what the public expects from you,” says Cortés.
With the end of the current television season, Telecinco is rearming itself for the new year. To begin with, it has opted for more Survivors, which premiered an edition with former contestants on Thursday. has already opened the casting to look for contestants for the first edition in seven years of Big Brother with unknown participants. The new gastronomic contest is also underway Next Level Chefand among the programs on the table are the returns of veterans Whoever that fails and The weakest rival. To face The anthill has signed Carlos Latre. But, above all, he highlights his confidence in a face that will be almost omnipresent: Jorge Javier Vázquez. Telecinco entrusts itself to the former presenter of Save me to try to reconnect with the audience. He will be the host of two galas Survivors All Stars, of Big Brotherwill present again There is one thing I want to tell you and will be in the afternoons with Jorg’s diaryand.
“I think Telecinco needs to stop and think about the long term, like Antena 3 did at the time, and decide what kind of television it wants to be and get to work on it. What happens is that the times required for this reflection are incompatible with the immediacy of the daily data from the hearings and the nerves in the offices when these are not expected,” says Abellán. “If television networks want to think in the long term, they should focus on formats that connect with new generations. In a few years, the main consumers will not be watching linear television, and that will be a big problem,” adds Cortés.
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