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M6 Rises to Third as World Cup Broadcast Drives Major Audience Jump

The free-to-air rights delivered strong reach in key advertising groups, with M6 planning programming cost cuts to absorb the tournament’s expected losses.

Overview

  • Audience-measurement data show M6 moved into third place nationally with a 12.4% share, overtaking France 3 while TF1 and France 2 held first and second.
  • M6 is the only free-to-air French broadcaster of the 2026 World Cup and is airing 54 of the 104 matches, which produced record single-game audiences for France’s games.
  • The FranceSenegal and FranceNorway matches averaged about 14 million and 13.7 million viewers respectively, lifting M6’s reach across general viewers.
  • M6’s programming director Guillaume Charles said the channel exceeded its audience targets and posted especially strong results among under-50 and 25–49 viewers, boosting the value of ads.
  • Company leaders caution the World Cup will generate a net loss and plan savings through more reruns, schedule shifts and lower-cost productions; BFMTV remains the top continuous news channel narrowly ahead of CNews.