What is happening in Telecinco? It is the question for which the television sector has been seeking an answer for several months. Mediaset’s main chain cannot find the model not only with which to recover its leadership but also with which to not fall further into the well. Its afternoons have hit rock bottom and in prime time, the star slot for television channels, it still hasn’t emerged.
This Tuesday, the audience by channels was 13.8% for Antena 3, 9.4% for La 1, 9% for Telecinco and 7.9% for laSexta. Although it is summer and television consumption drops considerably compared to other months of the year, the data shows the suffering in audiences that the chain is experiencing and that has led to several unexpected cancellations.
The difference in audience between Telecinco and its two main competitors, Antena 3 and La 1, in prime time is abysmal: Antena 3 is 6 points ahead of it, the greatest distance for 17 years, while La 1 has exceeded in the prime time to Telecinco, which has closed the season with a screen share that does not reach the digits (9.8%).
“It’s a drain,” say industry sources. “A chain can survive without winning the afternoons, but without making good prime time data it is impossible,” they add. The explanation is very clear: “If people don’t watch Telecinco in prime time, it’s difficult for them to lead the afternoon.”
But it’s not just prime time. The data for this Tuesday in the afternoon slot of Telecinco, when it marked a minimum of audiences, does not lie: the series Mía es la venganza, a 6.2% share of the screen; This is life, the substitute program for Sálvame for this summer, 7.5%; 25 Words, the Christian Gálvez contest, 7.9%; Chain reaction, the Ion Aramendi contest, 8.8%; the night news hosted by Pedro Piqueras, 9.8%; and I slip 9%. From 3:45 p.m. to after 12:00 a.m., none of the programs on its grid manage to exceed double digits.
The data from Así es la vida, the program by César Muñoz and Sandra Barneda, is so bad that Better Late, the program by Cristina Pardo on laSexta, is very close to reaching it and is only three tenths behind: 7.2% and 570,000 viewers. While And now, Sonsoles, which leads with 11.5%, is four points ahead.
“The problem that Mediaset is experiencing is facing a change in model with very low audiences and without any clear strategy,” say different television experts. Mediaset and, in particular, its main channel, Telecinco, are experiencing an ordeal with their audiences, especially increased since the definitive cancellation of Sálvame and the end of the last season of Survivors.
Although this week the afternoon audience has been terrible for the channel, which has already taken the first steps by canceling the shooting of the series starring Lydia Bosch – more than 100 episodes have been recorded and only one has been broadcast so far thirty-, the real problem of Telecinco, according to experts, is in a prime time that fails to raise beyond The island of temptations and Survivors.
If Mediaset is betting again on information, ousted for years, for marking an editorial line practically forgotten in recent times, for entertainment programs and for fiction, why doesn’t the post-Vasile model work?
“Beyond the afternoon, Telecinco’s main problem is a model that has been out of stock for almost two years, a model that did not fit with current television,” they point out. The model to which the experts refer is the successful model of Paolo Vasile for many years that has been burned in recent times because “it was a model that did not adapt in time to the new television era and could not be consumed on demand either. “. That is, it did not produce anything to see it on a platform. “The model that they are now trying to change was live television all the time and also giving up the news, which meant that Mediaset lost all its influence,” they say.
With the departure of Paolo Vasile, his replacement, Alessandro Salem, realized that this model had to be changed because “it was out of stock”. Since his arrival, the objective has always been to erase Vasile’s model and establish a white family television model, very similar to that of Antena 3 or public television. Hence, among other reasons, the cancellation of Sálvame or the commitment to the series, a “residual” format at the time of the previous CEO and which now occupies a large part of his grid, although not with the success that was probably expected: Vengeance is mine, Betrayal, premiered last week in prime time on Telecinco and which has already been eliminated from the main Mediaset network, or Escándalo, the story of an obsession.
Alessandro Salem is very clear about what he wants to do with Mediaset. In fact, those who know him assure that he is a “patient” person, that before being named the new CEO of the audiovisual group he spent “hours and hours watching all the group’s programming.” They affirm that he “does not make decisions without thinking about them” and that he “is very clear” about what type of television he wants for this new Mediaset.
The point is that despite changing what experts consider an “outdated” model, this strategy is not working. Today, Telecinco’s average audience is below 10%, surpassed not only by Antena 3, but also by La 1. Data that reflects the lows in the afternoon since the closure of Sálvame and the lack of leadership in the primetime.
Although Sálvame was the flagship of the television model promoted by Paolo Vasile and the new leadership of Mediaset was clear that to turn the page it was necessary to end the La Fábrica de la Tele program that, although marking the lowest rates of its 14 years of history, it was still the leader of the afternoons, almost two points above the average of the chain. Closing Sálvame so abruptly meant, first, losing that audience of more than 12% that marked the program, and causing the anger of an audience that is very loyal to the program that now rejects the new formats.
“When the whole house is falling down,” industry sources say, “removing the only wall that was still standing at once was a mistake.” “Your audience stayed for programs like Sálvame if instead of building little by little, you load the little that worked, you sink even more,” says a source close to the process of change that is being experienced in Mediaset.
“It’s a bit of a vicious circle,” say other voices. “Did the model for the new Mediaset of the year 2026 have to be without Save Me? Yes, but for now they had to have been building with what more or less worked for them,” they say.
What the experts are referring to is that obviously Mediaset had to change the model that did not work, but “it cannot be done at once”. According to them, “the first thing is to find the problem, look for the solution and then propose a medium-long-term strategy”.
This is what happened to Antena 3 in 2010. The chain did not stand out and Telecinco led each month without anyone shadowing it. Antena 3 realized that its model was not working and proposed a change that began with the cancellation, for example, of Dónde estás corazón, and the search for new formats. It took 10 years for their new approach and all the changes they made during this decade to sink in with the viewer, but they finally caught on and now Antena 3 is the undisputed leader of television in Spain. “Everything works for them”, affirm the experts, who explain this success in that, in addition to finding their niche, they have managed to “build the loyalty of their audience”.
These experts refer to a data that is rarely given importance: the number of unique viewers. Unique viewers passing through a network would be like patrons going to a bar during the day. Even if they consume a lot or consume little, they go. Currently, the Antena 3 bar is the most visited, while the Telecinco bar has fewer and fewer customers, although those who come stay longer.
Diagnosed the problem, now it would be necessary to look for the solution. Although the experts make it clear that on television “there is no magic formula”, they all agree that “patience and coherence in their strategy” is key: “Someone needs to say what Telecinco we want to be in 2027 and from there design a strategy to get there.
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