Telecinco’s historic low could drag Mediaset España to its worst annual turnover in two decades

This New Year’s Eve symbolizes the harsh reality that Mediaset faces in audience issues: 2024 has been a disaster and in 2025 there are no major advances in sight. Telecinco recorded a scandalously low figure in the bells from Lanzarote with Ion Aramendi and Blanca Romero, the most beautiful and elegant of the evening: with only 600,000 viewers and 3.5% of the total audience, the disaster was confirmed. La Sexta kept 2.3% of the audience and 394,000 followers. Four only got a 1% quota and 176,000 people.

The public channel swept the special on La 1 of Broncano and Lalachus, with 5,642,000 viewers and 33.1% of the screen share at the exact minute of eating the grapes, compared to the one on Antena 3 with Cristina Pedroche and Alberto Chicote , that scored 5,550,000 viewers and 32.6% share.

New Year’s Eve is a minor detail in the balance of the year but the problem is another: the turnover of the company led by Alessandro Salem could fall below 800 million euros.

The bitter retirement of Paolo Vasile and the two years of erratic continuation signed by Alessandro Salem have dragged Telecinco to the worst audience data in its historyand predictably Mediaset España to its most discreet financial numbers in more than two decades.

Telecinco suffers an identity and brand image crisis and it is imprisoned by the clamp formed by the temptation to return to colorín, which no longer generates the benefits of yesteryear, and by an attempt at a white revolution that has ended in absolute failure.

The group’s new Content Director, Alberto Carullo, will try to lift the terrible data starting January 1 that Telecinco is setting, which in 2024 will reach its third consecutive historic audience low and for the first time in its history has fallen below 10% share (averaging 9.9%).

Year to forget

Babylon Show, Jorge’s diary, The greatest generation, The weakest rival, Dynasties o Demos: the great survey they have failed with capital letters in a channel for which, of the new, only Ana Rosa has worked, which resists against all odds in the afternoons, Friday (thanks to going back on the change they intended and the checkbook on display) and the miniseries The Marquis (which is the only joy generated by Unicorn Content in recent times).

The company chaired for a few months by former minister Cristina Garmendia seems to have forgotten goodness and returns to its origins, see the signing of Bárbara Rey or Elisa Mouliaá (in the wake of the complaint against Errejón), the battery of realities what is coming for 2025 (GH Duo, Temptation Island, Next Level Chef y Survivors).

Mediaset España’s operating profit has not stopped falling since 2019. Five years ago the group added 264.9 million euros in positive and last year it fell to 161.5 (which was 16% less than in 2022).

In business volume the trend is even more worrying: In 2017, the Spanish company that has brought so much joy to the Berlusconi family had a turnover of 996 million euros and last year it fell to 833 (which is 22 less than in 2022).

Telecinco’s audience crisis, the high dependence that Mediaset España suffers from the advertising market and the channel’s inability to diversify income (due to its difficulties in selling to third parties and its weak OTT, Mitele, anemic in original content) could drag the group to fall below 800 million euros.

These figures are from 2 decades ago: In 2004, Telecinco had a turnover of 789.88 million euros..

Historical minimums in all bands

Vasile said goodbye to 2022 with Telecinco at 12.3%, Salem premiered last year with 10.4% and this year the audience has fallen below 10%. The channel marks its worst historical data in the morning, after dinner and in the afternoon, and equals the worst historical data in prime time.

The renewed Telecinco Newswith a clever but ineffective exchange of pawns, three years in a row at historic lows. For the first time since 2010, the channel’s newscasts are third option and, despite the successful signing of Carlos Franganillo, in global terms they fall to 9% and in prime time to 9.5%. The 9 pm news program continues to miss Pasapalabra and has its fourth consecutive annual minimum audience. It is true that Franganillo and Carazo share and share the center-left ideological space while Vicente Vallés exclusively brings together the most conservative offer. And that will change when there is a replacement in Moncloa and in RTVE. Yes there is. It is also true that Franganillo is a collateral victim of Broncano.

Mediaset España tries to hold on to the group commercial targetwhen Salem is aware that 1 point on Telecinco has a much more expensive market value than 1 point linked to thematic channels.

Waiting for pan-European Netflix

Silvio Berlusconi had a plan on the table: unite Mediaset Italia and Mediaset España under the same company, with heavenly headquarters in the Netherlands, and take control of the German company ProSieben to set up a pan-European Netflix that has series and other content that could be consumed from different countries.

Little is known about this plan and the Berlusconi conglomerate is trying to squeeze out the classic model. Despite the Spanish crisis, MFE-MediaForEurope (MFE) increased its net profit in the first half of 2024 to 104.7 million euros (which improved the 2023 records by 20.2%).

The group led by Pier Silvio Berlusconi stated that “in an extremely unstable general international context, the group achieved a significant increase in advertising revenueconsolidating in Italy the very positive trend that had characterized the last part of 2023, and registering signs of a substantial improvement also in Spain, where the process of strong renewal of the television and digital editorial offer undertaken during the last year continues.

“Thanks to the international dimension of the group -a geographical diversification that mitigates the imbalance of the markets- and our increasingly advanced transmedia system, this semester we have once again recorded results that have exceeded all expectations,” he added.