The least viewed debate of the week was the face-off between Gouveia e Melo and João Cotrim de Figueiredo, broadcasted by RTP1, attracting a total audience of 1.1 million viewers, which corresponded to an average audience of 607,000 and a share of 12.8%, according to Universal McCann (UM), a media agency of the IPG Mediabrands group.
On November 17th, a series of 28 debates between the main candidates for the Presidency of the Republic commenced, with the elections scheduled for January 18th, broadcasted by RTP, SIC, and TVI.
The inaugural debate, featuring André Ventura and António José Seguro, was aired by TVI and emerged as the most-watched of the first week.
Moderated by José Alberto Carvalho, the debate recorded a total audience of 1.52 million viewers, corresponding to an average audience of 1.042 million and a share of 21.2%.
This debate was the most-watched program of the day across Portuguese television, contributing to TVI’s leadership that day, achieving a share of 18.2%, 2.7 percentage points more than SIC, which came in second, according to UM.
In 2021, unlike these presidential elections, where the debates span several weeks, there were fewer candidates, allowing all debates to be concentrated within a single week, from January 2nd to 9th that year.
The exception was the debate with all candidates, broadcasted on January 12th, notes UM, stating that when comparing the first week of the 2026 presidential elections with that of 2021, the latter accounts for all 21 debates aired by various television channels.
Nevertheless, comparing the most-watched debate of the first week, the encounter between André Ventura and António José Seguro, with the most-watched face-off of 2021 (Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vs. André Ventura), it is observed that the 2021 debate achieved better results.
The latter was aired by SIC on January 6, 2021, registering an average audience of 1.7 million viewers and a share of 32.4%, which is 675,000 viewers more than the most-watched debate this first week.
In this first week of debates, the confrontation between Catarina Martins and Gouveia e Melo, broadcast by SIC, ranked second. Moderated by journalist Clara de Sousa, it recorded a total audience of 1.3 million viewers, an average audience of 798,000 viewers, and a share of 16.6%.
Completing the podium is the debate between Luís Marques Mendes and António Filipe, also aired by SIC, which recorded a total audience of 1.3 million viewers, an average audience of 751,000 viewers, and a share of 16.1%, concludes UM.
