La 1 challenges Antena 3's dominance, which has led the ratings for 15 months

La 1's battle for audience leadership intensified in October, yet Antena 3 remains the reigning champion. The Atresmedia channel secured a 13.1% audience share (one-tenth more than in September), marking fifteen consecutive months as the country's most-watched television. However, it was a clash of television titans where every tenth of a share became a trophy, and La 1 proved it has returned as a relevant and competitive channel.

The public channel closed October with a 12.3% audience share, its best figure for this month since 2011. The growth, 2.2 points compared to the same monthly period last year and seven-tenths more than in September, confirms the positive trend. The progress is particularly supported by the strength of current affairs programmes and news broadcasts, which remain the second choice on national television, with an average of 1,448,000 viewers and a 14.6% share, marking its best October since 2017.

'Telediario 1', hosted by Alejandra Herranz, made a leap of 3.5 points (1,387,000 and 15.5%), while 'Telediario 2', with Pepa Bueno, achieved its largest growth in 28 years by increasing its audience by 1.8 points compared to last year (1,551,000 and 14%). Over the weekend, the 'Telediarios' edition with Lourdes Maldonado and Marc Sala also saw increased viewership, especially at midday, after gaining 2.3 points (1,328,000 and 15.3%).

In the mornings, 'La Hora de La 1', with Silvia Intxaurrondo, set a historic record with a 19.6% share, and 'Mañaneros 360', with Javier Ruiz and Adela González, reached 16.6%, a figure not seen in that slot on TVE since 2007. Meanwhile, the afternoons bring good news for the public broadcaster, with 'Directo al grano', 'Malas lenguas', and 'Aquí la tierra'. La 1 also claimed the most-watched broadcast of the month with Spain's match against Bulgaria, which attracted 3,770,000 viewers and a 30.1% share.

Antena 3, which concluded with its best October in three years, continues to rely on its three pillars in the 'access prime time' slot, making its leadership unassailable. 'El Hormiguero' (15.9% and 1,905,000) once again crowned itself as the most-watched programme on television, asserting its dominance over David Broncano's 'La revuelta' (13.1% and 1.5 million followers). Before that, the news programme presented by Vicente Vallés continues to triumph (18.8% and 2.1 million), preceded by the undeniable success of 'Pasapalabra' (20.4% and 1,874,000), which leads by eight points over TVE's second option.

At midday, it maintains its dominance with 'La ruleta de la suerte' (22%) and 'Antena 3 Noticias 1', with Sandra Golpe, which is the most-watched news programme on the small screen, with a 23.3% share and over 2.1 million viewers, achieving its best result since August 2007, more than 18 years ago. In the afternoon, the drama 'Sueños de libertad' is also the most-watched series on television, averaging 14.1% and 1.2 million followers.

Meanwhile, Telecinco grew by two-tenths compared to the previous month (9.4% in October), but remains out of the game in the battle for audience leadership faced by its rivals. Mediaset's successes are in 'prime time' with the latest edition of 'Supervivientes All Stars', 'Bailando con las estrellas', or the celebrity programme, '¡De viernes!'. However, it struggles with some of its afternoon offerings, such as 'El tiempo justo', the magazine show hosted by Joaquín Prat. In fact, the channel will soon introduce changes in this slot, with the addition of a daily strip of the new season of 'Gran Hermano', to be hosted by Jorge Javier Vázquez before Carlos Franganillo's news programme.

The battle was tighter at the lower end of the table, where laSexta edged out Cuatro by just one-tenth of a share (5.9% vs. 5.8%). They are followed by TVE's La 2, with 3.1%, marking its best figure for this month since 2009. The audience ranking continues with Energy (2.5%), FDF (2.2%), and Trece (2.1%). Additionally, the group of regional channels averages a 9.3% audience share, with Aragón TV being the most-watched (15.1%), surpassing TV3 (14.1%).