President Erdoğan, PM Davutoğlu fall behind CHP leader in TV ratings

ANKARA

Ahead of Turkey’s crucial election scheduled for Nov. 1, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has topped President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in television ratings figures, according to data published by the Turkish media.

The ratings of TV stations for interviews with Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu broadcast on the same evening were published by daily Cumhuriyet on Sept. 18. President Erdoğan’s interview live on public broadcaster TRT late on Sept. 16 received an overall rating of 3.43 - not referring to viewer share or millions - while the rating for Kılıçdaroğlu’s interview on private broadcaster CNN Türk varied between 4.06 and 5.54.
 
Erdoğan received ratings of 5.59 in the AB group representing educated and high-income earners, and 5.13 in the ABC group. Kılıçdaroğlu’s AB rating was 3.12 while his ABC rating varied between 3.12 and 7.30.
 
Prime Minister Davutoğlu also had an interview with private new station NTV in the early evening of Sept. 16, which was rebroadcast later and overlapped with Kılıçdaroğlu’s interview for 15 minutes. During that overlap, Davutoğlu’s rating changed from 0.38 to 0.52, while Kılıçdaroğlu’s rating varied between 5.23 and 6.24.


A high-profile interview with former President Abdullah Gül, aired late on Sept. 17 on NTV, got a total rating of 1.82; this figure for the AB group was 3.82 while for the ABC1 group it was 2.93.