French Rising Star fades

The French version of Israeli format Rising Star lost 1.1 million viewers when its second episode aired on M6 last night, compared with the show’s premiere.

The talent show, distributed by Keshet International, attracted 2.7 million viewers, or an 11.8% audience share, still slightly above the channel’s average.

The loss was not due to competition from a single show. TF1 attracted five million viewers and a 20% share to the latest episode in the second season of Crossing Lines, while France 2’s politics talkshow Des Paroles et Des Actes brought in 2.8 million and 13.1%.

Several DTT channels also claimed more than one million viewers, fragmenting the audience further. TMC scored highly with a French movie, D8 with an entertainment talkshow and W9 with a Europa League football match.

Franco-German broadcaster Arte also reached one million with the first episode of the second season of its series Ainsi Soient-ils (aka Churmen).

Although its ratings are still reasonable, Rising Star has failed to remain an event for viewers and is in a more vulnerable position as a result. M6 said the show continues to lead among younger audiences under 50, with a share of 20%.

The figures will come as a further blow to Keshet following the decision by Germany’s RTL Television to end its Rising Star adaptation early because of a “lack of audience response.” UK commercial broadcaster ITV has also scrapped its version ahead of a planned 2015 launch.