Information fatigue, “information obesity”… the media is being shunned more and more, isn’t it?

A few months ago, the Jean Jaurès Foundation became interested “information fatigue”. Regularly qualified phenomenon “information obesity” or even from “cognitive saturation syndrome”associated with an excess of information and can cause fatigue and / or stress in readers. A study published last fall showed that “at least 53% of the French […] say they suffer from information fatigue, of which 38% […] suffer from this “a lot”. This observation is sometimes made even in the media, as evidenced by words Arte President Bruno Patino. “We see the dissatisfaction of many of our fellow citizens with information. They say: “There are too many of them, it’s too hard to navigate through any file, and it’s too hard to try to tell the truth from the lies.”“

Almost 6 out of 10 French people say they feel “too much information” WHO “does not let go”. A strong observation that is nonetheless difficult to translate into habits or lifestyles. Do we see a form of withdrawal, a step back? Progressive media sabotage associated with this omnipresence of information in everyday life?

When we look at audience and usage metrics, this trend doesn’t seem to show up. With regard to television, for example, we see that today’s television news remains particularly popular: the total number of people watching the small screen is on a downward trend, but the 13:00 audience share remains high: during 2021-2021. In the 2022 season, TF1 and France 2 news at 13:00 had an audience share of 38.4% and 22.1%, respectively. To this should be added 11.3% of the “12.45” proposed by M6. 20 hours TF1 and France 2 attract almost every second viewer per day (audience share 25.9% and 22.5%). Not counting the regulars of “19.45” on M6 (12.7%) or the newspapers of France 3 (14.1%). Figures provided by TF1info by Médiamétrie.

At the same time, it should be noted that there are 4 continuous news channels in France, which is quite unique in Europe. Over the past ten years, Franceinfo has emerged and LCI has expanded its audience with free DTT. So much so that today 4 channels account for 8% of the annual audience share (data for 2022), and BFM maintains its leading position with 3.3%.

The proliferation of mobile phones, like the proliferation of information content on social networks, undoubtedly contributes to the feeling of information obesity in many French people. Over the past decade, the audience registered by online media has grown steadily. Example Figaro illustrates this trend: the daily site was delighted in 2014 for the first time to cross the bar of 11 million unique visitors per month, but claimed 25.5 million 8 years later, in early 2022. More broadly, there are a dozen news sites in France with over 15 million monthly visits. Not to mention the success of media accounts on platforms like Instagram (1.7 followers per World), Twitter (3.2 followers Parisian) or even TikTok (where TF1info has over 700,000 followers).

Always very popular, radio remains the main medium in France where information finds its place. Including with the development of podcasts, which have grown significantly over the past decade. While many stations offer news-related meetings, we can take a closer look at the audience share achieved by Franceinfo, which devotes all or almost all of its airtime to current events. In November 2021, public radio pleased that with “4,909,000 listeners every day”she signed “the best audience in 16 years on the school wave (September-October)”. Puremedias, which closely monitors audience questions, explained at the end of 2022 that Franceinfo “significantly narrowed the gap with stations vying for the wagon podium over the last decade”. This means an audience share of 5.2%, which is close to NRJ or RMC who flirt with 6%.

If the Jean Jaurès Foundation’s observations suggest that media obesity is felt by the majority of French people, then the consequence does not seem to lead to an exodus of Internet users, listeners, readers and other viewers who would abandon the media and its products. . “For the majority of the French, it is important to receive regular information from the media (59%). For every fifth Frenchman, it is even “very” important (20%)”noted in his research fund.

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