The viewership of the news channels RTP3, CNN Portugal, SIC Notícias, and Now “depends on events occurring not only in Portugal but also worldwide,” notes Universal McCann (UM), an agency of the IPG Mediabrands group.
Analyzing viewership trends since 2021, “among the four news channels, RTP3 records the lowest audience. However, it is the channel that maintains a more consistent audience over the years,” UM concludes.
During this period, RTP3 recorded its lowest audience on May 22, 2021, with an average of around 6,000 viewers, corresponding to a 0.3% share.
Conversely, the highest was recorded on May 18 of this year, with an average audience of about 41,000 viewers, corresponding to a 1.6% share.
UM explains that in May, RTP3 recorded the highest share since 2021.
“In 2025, the month of May was when RTP3 achieved the highest share (since 2021), resulting from the coverage of the election of the new Pope and the conflict between Israel and Iran.”
In 2024, the public news channel had two peaks: “one in February with debates for the legislative elections and in October/November with the discussion of the State Budget,” it highlights.
A year earlier, in 2023, the coverage of the World Youth Day in Portugal “positively influenced” the channel’s audience, UM adds.
Regarding other news channels, Universal McCann notes that “the beginning of the war in Ukraine in February 2023 caused a spike in audience for CNN Portugal and SIC Notícias” and that the Now channel “has been recording constant growth in its audience since its launch in June 2024.”
During the parliamentary hearing on Culture, Communication, Youth, and Sports, following a request from PS, former RTP news director António José Teixeira said the reasons for his resignation were the need for renewal and restructuring.
Regarding RTP3’s audience, he repeatedly emphasized that “the results haven’t changed over the past three years.”
However, he continued, this “does not mean that we are satisfied with them,” noting that investments were being made to improve results and offerings.
In an opinion article in the Público newspaper, on July 2, titled “In the Name of Truth,” the journalist discusses RTP3.
“If trust, quality, and independence are not in question, even if we have to fight for them every day, it seems to be just a matter of the audience of a single channel, RTP3, which is said to continue to decline,” he stated in the article.
“It is false. And it’s not a matter of opinion. It’s factual. In the current quarter, it’s above the same period in 2024. In 2024, it had the same share as in 2023. In 2024, our direct competitors lost audience, unlike RTP3. In summary, there has been no audience decline for RTP3 over the past three years. The rating in 2024 was even higher than in 2023,” António José Teixeira, director of information at RTP for over five years, who was appointed to the position on January 7, 2020, noted.
The journalist was informed of his dismissal on June 23.
Meanwhile, RTP president Nicolau Santos has advocated for action on RTP3.
On June 18, 2024, in the parliamentary committee on Culture, Communication, Youth, and Sports, he argued for the need to overhaul RTP2, stating it was losing ground to the competition.
The goal is “a reinvention of RTP3,” the executive stated at the time.
In the case of RTP3, “we have a problem” because “we are effectively competing with other channels and we are losing,” the executive noted over a year ago.
