Yellow Vest Protests Draw Viewers, Not Ads, for French All-News TV
- Protests have bolstered viewership while eating into ad sales
- The revenue drop compounds an increasingly tight ad market
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Yellow Vest protests in France are turning into a mixed blessing for news broadcasters: Viewership has never been higher, but revenue is tumbling.
The grassroots Yellow Vest protests every Saturday since mid-November against everything from higher taxes and falling purchasing power to deteriorating public services and inequality have brought thousands of people into the streets in major urban centers. As they’ve clashed with the police, set cars on fire and destroyed shop windows, bank branches and monuments, the story has provided gripping programming for the country’s all-news channels. All that viewership hasn’t, however, translated into an ad-revenue bonanza.