2023-12-26 13:33:00
It’s already the end for Laurent Ruquier. His new daily show “Le 20h de Ruquier”, which he hosted in the evening on the BFMTV news channel, will end after only three months of broadcast, due to disappointing audiences according to the host who announced this news on Instagram, this Tuesday. To compensate for Laurent’s departure Ruquierthe broadcasts of Yves Calvi, who preceded him, and Alice Darfeuille, who followed him, will be extended by half an hour each.
« I prefer to stop there (…), it is clear that the public did not follow me as much as we hoped in this different role for me », he wrote in an internal message revealed by the newspaper Le Parisien then published on the social network.
A reason which is not quite the one given by his employer. “ The audience (above what we did previously) is not the subject », For his part assured the general director of BFMTV, Marc-Olivier Fogiel, in another internal message consulted by AFP. “ What leads him to stop is the gap between the necessary investment and the pleasure he derives from what he can offer to viewers. “, he continued. According to him, it was Laurent Ruquier who “ asked to release him from his commitment at the end of the year ».
A surprise arrival on BFMTV
Bad figures or weariness, the fact remains that this unforeseen stoppage has the taste of failure for the famous host. « You have to know how to accept your failures », he himself admitted. And for good reason, after 23 years of entertainment on France 2, Laurent Ruquier, 60, created a surprise by joining BFMTV at the start of the school year with the aim of hosting, since September 25, “ Ruquier’s 8 p.m. », Monday to Thursday from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Problem, this current affairs debate show was in competition with “ Time for the pros 2 » by Pascal Praud (CNews), « Do not touch My TV » by Cyril Hanouna (C8), « Daily » (TMC) or « C to you » (France 5), in addition to the 8 p.m. news from the major channels. However, selon Le Parisien/Today in Francethe average audience of « 20h of Ruquier » was 244,000 viewers (+12,000 compared to last season), compared to more than 800,000 for “ Time for the pros 2 », with a very right-wing editorial line.
But Laurent Ruquier assures us: “ I do not regret having left France Télévision last June for BFMTV, because I lived these three months as an exciting and incredible experience, one that I never imagined living, but you have to know how to accept your failures “, he explained in his message.
The threat of being overtaken by CNews
This surprise departure is also a hard blow for the 24-hour news channel. BFMTV (which belongs to Altice, the group of billionaire Patrick Drahi) is, in fact, going through a difficult time. Long the leading news channel in France, it is now closely followed by CNews (Canal+ group, controlled by billionaire Vincent Bolloré).
In November, the latter had eroded the gap which separates it from BFMTV over a full month (2.5% against 2.8%). And from December 4 to 10, CNews was the leading news channel in France in terms of audience over a full week for the first time since its creation in 2017. Over the whole of 2023, BFMTV remains good first, at 3 % against 2.3% for CNews.
In addition to the question of audiences, BFMTV recently lost several of its stars. The latest is the journalist Bruce Toussaint, who is leaving for TF1, where he will host the morning news, “ Bonjour! », from January 8. Before him, Aurélie Casse joined France 5 (in the programs “ C the weekly » et « C to you ), and Jean-Baptiste Boursier left for the TF1 group’s news channel, LCI.
This is in addition to recurring rumors of the sale of BFMTV by Altice, which have always been denied. “ We continue (…) calmly, in our corridor, far from the comments, to offer the best to our viewers with a solid and varied schedule », insisted Marc-Olivier Fogiel in his internal message.
(With AFP)
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