The PP also had the largest presence on RTVE in the first week of the campaign
The PP is the favourite in almost all the polls to be the most voted in the 23J Elections and it is also the party with the largest presence on RTVE.
The main opposition party and its candidate Alberto Núñez Feijóo were already in the last week of the pre-campaign the ones who had the highest audience share on public television, slightly ahead of the PSOE and Pedro Sánchez.
Already in the middle of the election campaign – it officially began on 7 July – the Partido Popular and its candidate for the Presidency of the Government continue to accumulate a greater presence than the rest of the political forces on RTVE. And, moreover, the difference with their opponents has increased.
The Partido Popular had a screen share last week of 3 hours and 55 minutes in the news programmes of La 1 and Canal 24 Horas, according to data provided by Hallon. This is more than half an hour more than the PSOE’s share in the same period. In other words, the PP registered a 28% share on RTVE last week, compared to 24% for the PSOE.
Although it is true that if only La 1 is taken into account -with a much larger audience- then the PSOE was the leading political force of the week, with 44 minutes, compared to 40 minutes for the PP.
By candidates, Feijóo also received more prominence, with 2 hours and 9 minutes last week, which is 15 minutes more than the President of the Government.
A week of debates
Last week was marked by the face-to-face debate between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo on Atresmedia. The following day -11 July- the PP maintained its lead on public television, with 1 hour and three minutes on screen, compared to 56 minutes for the PSOE. Although the media presence of both candidates was tied that day, with 44 minutes each. On La 1 they also appeared for the same amount of time, with five minutes each. The rest of the candidates barely had any reach that day.
The absence of other parties in the debate meant that they were not featured in the media during the whole of last week. VOX had one hour and 37 minutes on RTVE, while SUMAR had one hour and 9 minutes. In fifth place comes BILDU, with a presence on public television that is quite relevant for its national representativeness, with one hour on screen.
Also over-represented last week was Gabriel Rufián (ERC), who had 17 minutes of screen time last week, which put him in third place among the candidates, behind only Feijoó and Sánchez.
It was thanks to his presence in last Thursday’s RTVE spokespersons’ debate. In fact, Rufián was the political candidate with the largest presence on RTVE that day and Aitor Esteban (PNV) was the second.
