HVG notes that while on March 14, 398,994 viewers were watching M1’s main news show at 7:30 pm, on the following day viewership dropped to 224,828, while on March 22 it edged down to 146,116. Viewership remained low at around 200,000 on average for the rest of March, while prior to the reorganization it was around 350,000 on average.
HVG pointed out that M1’s news has been underperforming as compared to other television channels. While the 6 pm news of commercial channels RTL Klub and TV2 attract approximately 800,000 to 1 million viewers, respectively, M1 followed with 30,000-78,000 viewers in the same time period, attracting an average of 200,000 viewers at 7:30 pm, when no other channels air news.
On its first day as an all-news channel, M1 encountered so many technical problems on March 15 that it had to shut down at around 2:30 pm. According to the National Media and Infocommunications Authority, the reorganization of M1 cost HUF 1.2 bln and the authority has an annual budget of HUF 80 bln.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
