Correio da Manhã TV (CMTV) led Portuguese television news ratings on Tuesday as viewers across Portugal tuned in to follow live coverage of Storm Charles.
The television network, owned by the daily newspaper Correio da Manhã, recorded one of its strongest daily performances of the year during the national state of alert. According to audience figures reported by the newspaper on Wednesday, CMTV achieved an average audience share of 7.5% and drew an average of 170,790 viewers per minute on Tuesday.
The broadcaster entered continuous special programming to cover the storm and had been on the air live for 24 consecutive hours by Wednesday morning. Correio da Manhã stated that the channel would maintain its round-the-clock live broadcast alongside Portuguese viewers until the storm and the official state of alert ended.
Ratings comparison across Portuguese news channels
CMTV finished ahead of its domestic television news competitors during Tuesday's weather alert. Rival channel SIC Notícias placed second among information networks with a 4.4% average audience share and 100,330 viewers per minute.
CNN Portugal followed in third place with a 3.5% share and an average of 79,080 viewers per minute. Public broadcaster RTP Notícias recorded a 2% audience share, averaging 45,580 viewers per minute over the same period.
Evening flagship news programming also drew a large cumulative audience for CMTV. A total of 1,137,000 viewers watched the channel's main news programme, Grande Jornal, which featured Portugal's Minister of Health.
Cable distribution and audience measurement in Portugal
The ratings performance came despite CMTV's absence from Televisão Digital Terrestre (TDT), Portugal's free-to-air digital terrestrial television network. Instead, CMTV is broadcast on channel 8 across all Portuguese cable television operators.
Television audience ratings in Portugal are measured by the market research company GfK. Operated by the Portuguese media group Medialivre, CMTV serves as the broadcast arm of Correio da Manhã, Portugal's largest-selling daily newspaper, competing in the subscription television news sector against private broadcasters SIC Notícias and CNN Portugal as well as the state-run RTP network.
