The longest-running successful Spanish

The longevity of ‘El Hormiguero’ is unknown.

We compare it to predecessors and competitors to find its strengths.

‘El Hormiguero’s unbeatable success and stable trajectory (this year it had its best figures ever) are rare on Spanish television. The only serious alternative to its reign has been ‘La revuelta’ in recent months, but it has overtaken it in audiences. However, Pablo Motos’ audience has not neglected it. Until now, its throne was undisputed (it now shares it but has not decreased its achievements). Look at how it got there and how time didn’t affect its success.

Television longevity in Spain. The longest-running TV shows in our history were chosen to face off. The goal is to interpret ‘El Hormiguero’, so news programs and contests are excluded. We want current events talk shows with a fixed but flexible structure that allows guests and collaborators. These cases and their durations are listed.

Case of ‘Crónicas Marcianas’ As shown in the graph, ‘Crónicas marcianas’ was on air for the shortest time, eight seasons, but it had the best audiences: more than 30% share from its fourth year onwards due to a time slot with many more viewers than ‘El Hormiguero”s evening-night zone. The program’s structure is most like Pablo Motos’: a host who sets the content, current events, guests, and a table of collaborators.

Chronicles lost. Competition pressure, which after many attempts offered a real alternative that Pepe Navarro could not provide, caused ‘Chronicles’ to disappear. On Telecinco, Navarro had preceded ‘Crónicas Marcianas’ with ‘Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi’. Later, Antena 3 signed him to compete with ‘Crónicas marcianas’ with ‘La sonrisa del pelícano’ for a brief period in 1997. Navarro’s program disappeared suddenly, but it was never clear why, even though his extreme and controversial content had always violated the chain’s ethical code.

‘Crónicas marcianas’ fell partly because ‘Buenafuente’, a more white and friendly show, started to scrape audiences in its time slot. When it left in 2004, Javier Sardá’s program was still the audience leader, but the format’s wear and tear and the death of one of the show’s creators, Joan Ramón Mainat, led to its closure.

Ana Rosa is unique. Ana Rosa Quintana is another Spanish television legend. Her morning show, ‘El programa de Ana Rosa’, has fluctuated in audience, but it has dominated Telecinco’s morning slot for almost two decades, making it comparable to ‘El Hormiguero’. However, its formula has aged.

Starting in 2005, the show averaged 1,123,000 viewers with 26.1% share. Nineteen years later, the audience was still large and unrivaled, but it dropped to 460,000 viewers and 17% share. In recent years, especially since the PSOE-Podemos coalition government started, the program has become politically radicalized, criticizing the pandemic management and assigning Quintana to Telecinco’s afternoons with ‘TardeAR’.

Thus, unlike El Hormiguero, Ana Rosa Quintana has been affected by time. She has followed a similar political radicalization and criticism of the socialist government as El Hormiguero, but analysts say it may have hurt her audience.

Second, ‘Sálvame’. ‘Sálvame’ has been on air for 15 seasons with hardly any format changes, but its content has changed. The program evolved from a discussion on ‘Supervivientes’ (hence the title, logo, and theme song’s “I am a castaway”) to a heartfelt show, influenced by programs like ‘Tómbola’ and ‘Aquí hay tomate’.

Then it changed. Belén Esteban’s popularity led him to add collaborators who developed their own plots and subplots: arguments, reunions, dirty laundry—everything had a place in a program that people came to for the latest on its regulars, not the heart. ‘Sálvame’ evolved naturally due to numerous spin-offs on Telecinco, such as ‘Sálvame Fashion Week’ and ‘La última cena’, which took on a life of their own in the afternoons.

Audiences of Silvame. The first graph shows that ‘Sálvame’s audience stayed between 16-17%, with occasional entries at 18% at its most successful year (the third) and a drop in the last two years. Antena 3 took ‘Pasapalabra’ from Telecinco and became the afternoon queen, causing this drop. After the contest changes hands in 2020, ‘Sálvame’s audience drops to just over 13% in its last two years.

Hormiguero vs. Sálvame. The biggest audience change in 27 years has occurred since Telecinco’s competitor, ‘Pasapalabra’, took the lead in 2023. Starting shortly before 4 p.m. with two soap operas, one often Turkish, is the plan. From there, it’s unstoppable: ‘Y ahora Sonsoles’ at 6, ‘Pasapalabra’ at 8, the news at 9, and ‘El hormiguero’ when these end. Pablo Motos’ huge audience makes prime time victories easy.

The longest-running successful Spanish

The longevity of ‘El Hormiguero’ is unknown.

By nr39r

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