The face to face of Sánchez and Feijóo sweeps with a 46.5% share and 6 million viewers on Antena 3 and La Sexta

The debate face to face between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóothe only one that will be seen during this electoral campaign, swept away a 46.5% share and 5,910,000 viewers in the broadcast on simulcast of Antena 3 and La Sexta, the two channels of the Atresmedia group in charge of offering it.

Separately, the program moderated by Vicente Vallés and Ana Pastor reached a 25.1% share and 3,194,000 followers on Antena 3, while on La Sexta it registered an average share of 21.4% and 2,716,000 viewers, according to Windward. After the meeting between Sánchez and Feijóo, the special Red Hot presented by Antonio García Ferreras signed an outstanding 19% share and 1,311,000 viewers. With these data, Antena 3 led on Monday (15.4%), followed by La Sexta (11.1%), which beat both Telecinco (9.1%) and La 1 (9%).

With 5,910,000 spectators, the debate between the two main candidates for the presidency of the Government becomes the most watched of the season excluding sporting events (World Cup in Qatar). It is ahead of the special New Year’s Eve on TVE (5,235,000) or the Eurovision votes (5,134,000).

More viewed by men than women and close to 60% in Galicia

The debate stood out among men (50.3%) compared to women (43.2%) and, by age groups, it obtained its best records among young people between 13 and 24 years of age (48%) and those over 64 (48.7%). By communities, it stood out in Galicia (58.2%), Castilla y León (57.5%) and Murcia (56.3%). On the contrary, the territories that followed the match between Sánchez and Feijóo with less passion were Catalonia (36.8%) and the Basque Country (39.2).

The Atresmedia debate exceeded 50% at its peak share, at 11:42 p.m., and achieved 6,360,000 viewers in its most watched minute (22:45), which on television is called the ‘golden minute’. At that time, Feijóo was signing the pact that he offered Sánchez to let the list with the most votes rule.

Historical ranking of electoral debates

As expected, the face to face of Sánchez and Feijóo is the least watched of those that have been broadcast throughout the history of television in Spain and this is due to several reasons. On the one hand, it was held in the summer, when television consumption is lower. On the other, it is produced in an increasingly fragmented audiovisual context with many more operators than before (Thematic, DTT, etc.) and this has already begun to be noticed in recent years. However, in terms of share, the percentage of viewers who are watching television at that moment is in line with the last debates broadcast (2019 and 2015), approaching 50%. In other words, almost half of the spectators who were in front of the television last night saw the face to face.

Until now, the last political debate that was held during the electoral period was on April 23, 2019 with Pedro Sánchez, Pablo Casado, Albert Rivera and Pablo Iglesias as protagonists. That program, broadcast on Atresmedia, achieved 48.7% and 9,477,000 viewers.

For its part, the last face-to-face between two politicians, before the arrival of the new parties, occurred in 2015, between Pedro Sánchez and Mariano Rajoy. On that occasion, the two main candidates in the elections reached 48.5% and 9,687,000 through its broadcast on three channels (La 1, Antena 3 and La Sexta). From then on, all the electoral debates went to four or five as a result of the disappearance of a bipartisanship that now seems to return.

Next, ranking with the historical audience of the electoral debates (by millions of viewers):

Zapatero-Rajoy (02/25/2008): 12,614,000 and 57.2%

Rubalcaba-Rajoy (11/7/2011): 12,006,000 and 54.2%

Zapatero-Rajoy (03/03/2008): 11,558,000 and 54.5%

González-Aznar (05/31/1993): 10,526,000 and 75.5%

Deb4te 2016 (06/13/2016): 10,495,000 and 57%

Sánchez-Rajoy (12/14/2015): 9,687,000 and 48.5%

González-Aznar (05/24/1993): 9,625,000 and 61.8%

Married, Sánchez, Rivera and Iglesias (04/23/2019): 9,477,000 and 48.7%

Sáenz de Santamaría, Sánchez, Rivera and Iglesias (07/12/02015): 9,233,000 and 48.2%

Rajoy, Sánchez, Rivera, Iglesias (04/22/2019): 8,860,000 and 43.7%

Married, Sánchez, Rivera, Iglesias and Abascal (11/04/2019): 8,621,000 and 52.7%