The analysis of Sunday night’s electoral broadcast audiences, concerning the municipal elections, revealed a significant triumph for the Democratic Alliance (AD) over the Socialist Party, securing victories in both Lisbon and Porto. This closely contested election necessitated the counting of all votes.
TVI emerged as the most-watched channel of the day, achieving a 15.4% share, outperforming SIC by 2.2 percentage points, which recorded a 13.2% share, as reported by Universal McCann.
RTP1 secured the third spot with a 10.2% share. Among cable channels covering the elections, CMTV stood out with a 6.5% share, while SIC Noticias was the second most-viewed paid TV channel at 3.7%, followed closely by CNN Portugal at 3.6%.
Comparing with the legislative elections coverage on May 18, where Luís Montenegro was re-elected as prime minister, SIC and TVI experienced an increase in their total daily share, rising by 0.7 and 3.2 percentage points, respectively, while cable channels noted a decline.
The channel Now remained the only cable network maintaining its legislative election day share at 1.8%, whereas CMTV, SIC Notícias, and CNN Portugal saw decreases of 0.7, 0.6, and 1.1 percentage points, respectively.
The Sunday schedule prominently featured the municipal elections coverage alongside TVI’s entertainment formats.
TVI had the distinction of airing an election-related program in the top three, specifically highlighting ‘Secret Story,’ which drew an average of 884,000 viewers, achieving a 19.8% share.
Following was ‘Decisão 25 — Noite Eleitoral,’ also broadcast by TVI, attracting an average of 856,000 viewers with a 17.6% share.
Completing the top three, TVI’s ‘Concurso Bem Bom’ captivated an average of 796,000 viewers, registering a 17% share.
Highlighting SIC’s performance, ‘Autárquicas 2025’ secured the fourth position, with an average viewership of 793,000, representing a 16.8% share.
In the previous May legislative elections, TVI aired the fifth most-watched program of the day, though RTP1 led with ‘Legislativas 2025 — O Vencedor,’ viewed by 801,000 people.
A detailed audience analysis throughout the electoral night revealed SIC leading over TVI and RTP1 between 20:00 and 20:50 during the municipal elections broadcast.
Nevertheless, TVI seized leadership for the remainder of the night, peaking between 21:10 and 21:30 with ‘Decisão das Eleições,’ the second most-watched program of the day, and again between 22:10 and 22:40 with ‘Secret Story,’ the day’s most-viewed show, according to the analysis.
RTP1 generally ranked third in average audience, peaking between 20:00 and 20:40 with ‘Autárquicas 2025 — Hora dos Vencedores.’
