CNMC survey finds 55.7% in Spain watched RTVE channels regularly

A little more than half of people in Spain said they regularly watched at least one RTVE channel in the second quarter of 2026, according to figures released by the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) on 23 October. The share was 55.7%, up from 52.1% a year earlier. The channels named in the survey were La 1, La 2, Canal 24 horas, Teledeporte and Clan. “Regularly” reflects the survey’s wording and should not be treated as a measure of total viewing time or audience ratings.

News programmes had a smaller regular audience: 37.7% of respondents said they habitually followed RTVE newscasts. Viewing differed by age. People aged 65 and over had the highest regular channel-following rate at 69.9%; among 16-to-24-year-olds the rate was 56.2%. In the older group, 52.9% also regularly followed the public broadcaster’s news programmes. Those figures are population shares, not counts of viewers or an estimate of minutes watched.

Respondents gave mixed assessments of news impartiality. Overall, 31.1% considered information in the public broadcaster’s news programmes objective, while 27.7% said the opposite. Among people who regularly watched those programmes, 60.6% regarded the information as objective. These are reported perceptions, not an independent audit of news accuracy, balance or editorial standards. The different result among regular viewers also means the overall and viewer-only shares should not be compared as if they had the same denominator.

The release also covered children’s programming on Clan TV. Nearly four in ten households with children, or that cared for children, considered Clan’s programming varied and of good quality. Fourteen percent expressed the opposite view. Among that latter group, the most frequently cited reasons were insufficient quality (44.3%) and a lack of educational and cultural content (38.1%). Respondents also mentioned too little news specifically for children (21.9%) and too few social and civic programmes (21.7%); the CNMC release does not say these reasons were mutually exclusive.

The findings come from the CNMC Household Panel, a semiannual survey that combines interviews with analysis of household service bills. The second-quarter wave included 6,009 households and 8,853 individuals and covers consumer habits and perceptions across telecoms, audiovisual services, energy, postal services and transport. The October 23 news release reports a set of television-related indicators from that broader wave; it is not a full account of the panel’s results.

The release is based on self-reported behavior and views, so its percentages should be read as survey results rather than administrative viewing records. Sample size, fieldwork design and question wording shape what the panel can say; a regular-viewing share does not establish how often or how long each person watched. The CNMC says the panel is intended to gather household and individual experience, including bills, for markets it supervises. Its media results therefore provide a snapshot of use and perception in Q2 2026, with annual comparisons for selected questions.