Unprecedented Decline in Audience for the State Media with a Budget of 24 Trillion Tomans Next Year: Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting

Several domestic media outlets have published the latest statistics and surveys regarding the audience levels of various programs from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), indicating an unprecedented decline in public interest in this costly media. The newspaper 'Farhikhtegan' reported that access to part of the television viewership statistics over the past month revealed that the audience for this state media has been on a downward trend over the past four years, despite the significant budget taken from the public. According to the report, the program 'Pavargahi' hosted by Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, who recently protested the possible return of some old presenters to television and called himself 'the regime's fool,' had less than 7% viewership in recent months. Another television program, 'Seyyed Khandan,' also hosted by this government-affiliated presenter, managed to attract only about 7% of the Iranian public's attention. In the table published by 'Farhikhtegan,' the program 'Football Bartar,' a special program for the Asian Cup, was the most-watched program of the Islamic Republic's television last month with around 24% viewership, followed by 'A'jaibha' with 17% and the religious program 'Samte Khoda' hosted by Najm al-Din Shariati with 15% viewership. Programs like 'Jam-e Arezooha,' 'Khosh Namak,' 'Sarnakh,' and 'Begoo Bekhand' had viewership between 2% to 7%, making them among the least-watched programs produced by IRIB in recent months. On February 26, members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly increased the budget for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Organization for the year 1403 (2024) by more than three times, raising it to 24 trillion tomans. Peyman Jabali, the head of IRIB, who is directly appointed by the Supreme Leader, stated before this budget increase that 'the organization's budget does not cover the costs of producing quality content for this number of channels.' 'Eghtesad 24' also reported in December that IRIB has now appeared among the 17 loss-making companies and institutions in the 1402 budget and is the most loss-making profit-making entity in the country, with its losses covered by the public budget. Shabnam Farshadjou: The managers of IRIB themselves know that they have neither credibility nor audience among the Iranian people.