We had already imagined that the problem would arise sooner or later a month ago, when both “Your Business” and “The Wheel of Fortune” began to go overboard, greeting their respective viewers at after 9.40pm. But the climate was still summer and the schedules were ‘sleeping’, with slow early evenings that only hosted reruns. Now that autumn has entered full swing and television has restarted its engines, we can say that the situation has even worsened.

The rise of Affari Tuoi, which began twenty years ago

It seems like we have gone back exactly twenty years and even then among the protagonists who took the field there was “Affari Tui”. At the time, however, the Rai 1 game played the role of the outsider who had broken the toy of “Striscia la notizia” after decades of absolute domination by Antonio Ricci. What should have been a little game of just twenty minutes (with Paolo Bonolis calling 5-6 parcels at a time), soon turned into an appointment lasting forty, fifty and finally sixty minutes, with the aim of counteracting a satirical news program which on the other hand had in turn stretched and lengthened its episodes.

In doing so, we soon reached a prime time starting at 10pm, with the situation partially contained over time thanks to a compromise which until last year was around 9.35pm.

After all, “Affari Tui” walked on velvet and literally dubbed “Striscia”. A situation that had made the time slot non-competitive, with the challenge consequently becoming null and void and of no interest.

La Ruota now closes very late, even at 9.52pm

Everything changed this summer with the advent of “The Wheel”. Having put “Paperissima Sprint” in the attic in the middle of July, the quiz with Gerry Scotti doubled ratings and shares, bringing back to the Mediaset flagship people who Canale 5 had said goodbye to for centuries. A solitary war that lasted until September, when Stefano De Martino, a week early, showed up again with his packages.

The news to date tells of one hundred percent of comparisons won by “The Wheel”, with 5.3 million (equal to 25.2%) totaled on Tuesday evening, compared to “Affari Tui” which is chasing almost 5 million (23.5%).

The two offers, in terms of duration, are not far apart (more minute, less minute), however it is Scotti who takes leave later, with the final credits appearing at 9.52pm, five minutes after De Martino. The difference, therefore, is made by Tg5 which, for weeks, has been giving the line at 8.40pm, strategically overlapping with Bruno Vespa’s “Five Minutes”.

The most coveted time of day for advertising revenue

In short, an exhausting chess game that takes place during the most sought-after period of the day in terms of advertising revenue. Not to mention that closing much earlier would mean giving away the peak to the rival: a large part of the public could in fact jump from one channel to another to see how the other race ends. A move that would damage the program in question and the subsequent prime time product, which would not enjoy the driving effect.

The result of all this, in any case, is visible to the naked eye: prime time now moved to another time zone which, inevitably, ends up concluding well after midnight and other networks padding their proposals with rich ‘previews’ to last until “Affari Tui” and “The Wheel” get out of the way, so as to be able to isolate and discard the (low) data of the first minutes.

A barbarization of timetables that would require a truce, to be reached through an agreed pact. An epilogue easily reachable in words but which, in reality, appears like a mirage.

It would take wisdom and the goodness to keep one’s word. Yes, but who starts?