Thursday, July 2, should have been just another day of the summer after-dinner meal. And like a domestic thriller TV movie, it became the worst in Telecinco’s 36-year history. The stars have aligned in the negative to reach the disastrous milestone, since not only is it the icing on the cake of a collapse in audiences that has been brewing for years, but the stratospheric audiences of the World Cup mean that, for the moment, Telecinco is going to have a very difficult time raising its head.
Not six. Telecinco closed on July 2 with 5.97% screen share: the worst daily data in the chain since records exist. That same afternoon, Spain beat Austria 3-0 in the round of 32 of the World Cup 2026 and brought more than nine million viewers to La 1, which closed the day with 26.7% share and 63.7% during the match itself. The golden minute arrived at 10:51 p.m., with 10,447,000 people watching Spain advance to the round of 16.
Not just football. As we said a few days ago, not only football is to blame: it is that Mediaset’s entire summer plan to recover audience is leaking: that same day ‘Love… or whatever arises!’ it signed a minimum with 5.1% and 439,000 viewers; ‘Summer moves’ fell to 5.8% and 431,000; and that collapse also dragged down ‘El Diario de Jorge’ (7.4%) and ‘Allá tú’ (7.6%). Even the prime time suffered the blow: the series ‘She, damn soul’ scored its minimum number of viewers in its third episode. However, ‘First Dates’ surpassed a repeat of ‘El Hormiguero’, which corroborates Carlos Sobera’s dating show as one of Mediaset’s most reliable assets.
Because it was already coming off an ominous June: the month closed with an 8.3% share, the worst June in the history of the network and also the worst month in the regular season, even ahead of the previous negative record, 8.4% in December 2025. Not even heavyweights like the final of ‘Survivors’ or the outcome of ‘Temptation Island’ managed to reverse the figure.
Downhill and without brakes. Since the chain he let Paolo Vasile go to reinvent himselfdid not find a substitute for the formats that sustained its leadership, such as ‘save me‘, which also went through its own via crucis. The 2025-2026 season closed with an 8.9% average quota, the worst in its history and the fifth consecutive record to set a new low. He contrast with La 1 It is especially striking: in five years, the public channel has gone from 8.8% to 12.1%, while Telecinco has done the opposite, from 13.1% to 8.9%.
Great summer plan. ‘Love…or whatever comes up!’ It debuted on June 22 with 6.8% and 632,000 viewers. ‘The Peace Show’ started with 7.8% and 638,000. ‘Summer moves’ premiered with 7%. None of the three has exceeded 8% since then. Meanwhile, Antena 3 maintains the after-dinner atmosphere with ‘Sueños de libertad’ above 14% on average and La 1 exploits the World Cup to lead a month of June that had been belonging to Atresmedia for 22 months. The figures are unequivocal: it is not that people have stopped watching traditional television. It is a specific problem for Mediaset.
The last puff. The fourth piece of the plan remains: ‘From Monday to Friday’, presented by Santi Acosta and Beatriz Archidona, two faces that already lead ‘From Friday’ in prime time on Fridays for three seasons. The program inherits the slot from ‘Jorge’s Diary’ from 6:15 p.m. adds a team of 16 collaborators in which faces from the extinct ‘Sálvame’ coexist (Lydia Lozano, Karmele Marchante, Rosa Benito, Terelu Campos, Antonio Rossi), which points to a timid attempt to recover what was the last great success of Mediaset’s afternoons. His only problem: he faces, in his debut, nothing less than an afternoon of warming up for a game in Spain.
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