In 2025, BFMTV will shake up its codes with a bold bet. In any case for the news channel…
For a long time, news channels like BFMTV have played the counter-programming card against the 8 p.m. news from TF1 and France 2, which are firmly anchored in the habits of French viewers. While generalists reported on the news of the day, BFMTV and others, although at the forefront of news, focused more on debates and exchanges of points of view on hot topics. A way to stand out.
But in 2025, BFMTV decided to change its mind. From this Monday, January 6, the channel will launch its own 8 p.m. news, as revealed by Le Monde. A small revolution in the PAF. This 2-hour news program will be presented by Maxime Switek, currently in charge of the morning show. He will be surrounded by experts (politics, economics, international, etc.) and will offer reports and interviews.
The ambition displayed by BFMTV with this 8 p.m. is to “move away from confrontational formats to favor a dispassionate, even benevolent, approach to information”. A new tone for the Altice group channel, recently bought by CMA Médias, the group of shipowner Rodolphe Saadé, which seems to want to put an end to the controversies and spats which made up the heyday of BFMTV.
This editorial shift is in line with the program “Perrine until midnight”, launched in 2022. Every evening at 10 p.m., journalist Perrine Storme deciphers the news in a more peaceful atmosphere. A formula which seems to have won over viewers and which BFMTV wants to offer in prime-time access with its new 8 p.m. format.
By launching into the very competitive battle for 8 p.m., BFMTV may seem to be making a more conventional choice. Yet she takes a high risk. TF1 and France 2 between them attract more than 10 million viewers every evening and their star presenters, Gilles Bouleau and Anne-Sophie Lapix, are real institutions. The news channel will have a lot to do to exist in the face of these behemoths. But BFMTV has no choice. While CNews is gaining ground and is now the leading news channel in France, the channel must reinvent itself to maintain its leadership.