The debate which took place on December 14 concluded the round of TV debates between the presidential candidates, out of which we could highlight the inclusion of new technologies.
15 december 2015
The face to face between Mariano Rajoy and Pedro Sánchez became the most viewed TV programme of the year with 9.2 millions of viewers; this exceeded the audience of the 4-way debate organized the week before by Atresmedia.
A total of over 10 national and autonomic channels broadcasted the debate thanks to the signal ceded by Academia de Televisión. Regarding national channels, La Sexta received a greater following, with 2.914.000 viewers (14,6% share), a higher number than that of Antena 3, which was chosen by 2.794.000 viewers (14%). Televisión Española came in third with 2.678.000 viewers (13,4% of the audience measurement). Worse results were achieved by TVE’s Canal 24 Horas, which only collected around 157,000 viewers (only a 0,8% of share).
This way, La 1 loses the leading position achieved with the broadcasting of the last debate in 2011 between Mariano Rajoy and Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, when they obtained 9.934.000 viewers more than Antena 3, its next largest competitor.
Image source: prnoticias.com
An audience account left a historical data after the debate: for the first time, a private channel, La Sexta, hosted more viewers during a debate broadcasting. Atresmedia completed the special programming with Al Rojo Vivo, hosted by Antonio García Ferreras and which counted with the appearance of Albert Rivera and Pablo Iglesias, candidates for Ciudadanos and Podemos respectively. This programme was followed by 1.6333.000 viewers, becoming the most viewed within its time zone.
Regarding the channels which decided not to broadcast the debate, Telecinco still got a 10,9% of the audience measurement and 1.630.000 viewers with the final programme of the talent show, Pequeños Gigantes. Cuatro, the other of Mediaset’s channels, obtained a 9,5% and 1.973.000 followers with the movie This Means War.
December, a month of debates
The debate mentioned above ended the debate round which has filled an important part of television programming during the months of November and December. The first of them took place on 30 November, when the newspaper El País broadcasted online a debate for the first time in history; Pedro Sánchez, Albert Rivera and Pablo Iglesias participated on them.
The greatest characteristic we could extract from these debates is the inclusion of new technologies both in the broadcasting and reception and for content interaction. During the meeting organised by the PRISA group newspaper, El Pais, the candidates were allowed to use their phones as well as any platform with Internet access.
Likewise, 7D: El debate decisivo, organised by Atresmedia last 7 December, could be followed through several channels: Antena 3, La Sexta, Onda Cero and Atresplayer (on the Internet). This time, it could also be seen outside of our frontiers thanks to Antena3’s international channel.
The 14 December debate was the last of the debates organised between presidential candidates. A path started by Antena 3 on 24 May 1993 with the broadcasting of the meeting between Felipe González and José María Aznar and which was moderated by Manuel Campo Vidal.
For the subject Programming and Marketing Strategies within the Official Master’s Degree in Audiovisual Contents and Formats and which is taught by Àlvar Peris, the students get to know the different audiovisual genres and formats within the digital environment and they become familiar with audience measurement.
