Over 80 percent of Poles would like to watch political debates, not just during election season, according to a study commissioned by ScreenLovers. Viewers believe Bogdan Rymanowski would be the best debate host, although younger viewers would prefer Krzysztof Stanowski in the role. Dorota Wysocka-Schnepf came in last.
21 November 2025 | Wirtualnemedia
Election debates dominated television audiences this year. Seven of the political battles drew average audiences of over a million viewers, and three of them attracted audiences exceeding 6 million Poles (Nielsen Audience Measurement data).
The popularity of this “format” was exploited not only by the stations themselves but also by politicians during the election period, such as Sławomir Mentzen, who organized debates on his YouTube channel. His conversation with Rafał Trzaskowski nearly set an informal live viewership record for Polish YouTube.
Following the popularity of debates on television and YouTube, ScreenLovers, together with the SW Research agency, examined Poles’ interest in this format of meetings between politicians, not only during election campaigns.
The survey found that 85% watched at least one of the debates during the presidential election period. Of those who watched the debates in 2025, as many as 8 in 10 said they would watch debates with politicians regardless of how much time remains until the election. Such debates would be most popular among the 45-54 age group (86%), while the lowest (though still high) popularity was among the 16-24 age group (73%).
TVN and TVN24 won
Poles would most like to watch debates on TVN or TVN24 – these stations were indicated by nearly 3 out of 10 people interested in debates, and they are the leader in every age group after 45.
Channel Zero, on the other hand, was indicated by 13 percent of viewers interested in debates, which placed it behind Polsat TV and ex-aequo with TVP and Telewizja Republika, but at the same time in the age groups up to 34 years old – Channel Zero is the leader in the ranking.
Who would be the ideal debate moderator, according to Polish viewers? Bogdan Rymanowski , chosen by 22 percent of Poles. Rymanowski topped the overall audience poll, with an overrepresentation of votes from the middle generation (ages 35-54).
TVN hosts Piotr Kraśko and Anita Werner proved to be the most popular choice among viewers over 55. Meanwhile, Polish viewers aged 16-34 would most like to see Krzysztof Stanowski, head of Channel Zero , as the debate host.
The study was conducted online in September 2025, using a representative sample of 1,926 Poles with internet access. It was conducted by SW Research for ScreenLovers, a specialist video and advertising website.