Are people tired of watching the news? Ratings decline as war rages on

Is the public growing tired of TV news broadcasts after two months of war? Here's what the evidence has to say.

 An illustrative image of a TV news studio. (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
An illustrative image of a TV news studio.
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)

After two months of war, is the public tired of TV news broadcasts?

Ratings for news broadcasts in Israel soared in the early days of the war with Hamas. For instance, on October 8, the second day of Operation Swords of Iron and just one day after the October 7 massacre, Channel 12 News's main broadcast achieved a 30% viewership.

On Sunday, Channel 12 News only garnered 18.2% viewership ratings - a noticeable decline since the start of Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza.

How have other Israeli news broadcasts fared two months into the war?

And other Israeli news broadcasts are even worse off. Channel 14 News saw just 7% viewership, Channel 13 News with 6.8%, and as usual, KAN's broadcast ranked last with 5.4%.