President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is scheduled to appear live on the Flow Podcast at 8:45 p.m. Thursday, while four presidential rivals are set to attend TV Globo’s debate in Rio de Janeiro later that evening.

The agenda-focused account lists the Flow interview among a full day of official and campaign commitments for Lula, including meetings in Brasília and events in Santos. It says Flávio Bolsonaro, Ronaldo Caiado, Romeu Zema and Augusto Cury will take part in Globo’s debate, presenting the split as a straightforward divergence in candidates’ schedules.¹

A separate account places greater emphasis on the overlap. It says Lula informed Globo that he would not attend its debate before Flow announced the interview on social media. With the podcast due to begin 45 minutes before the debate’s 9:30 p.m. start, the outlet describes the arrangement as a direct competition for viewers.²

The two accounts therefore agree on the central fact: Lula will not share the Globo stage with his opponents. They differ in emphasis. One records his appearance as part of the day’s calendar; the other casts it as a communications strategy, noting that Lula used a similar approach during a previous Band debate, when he gave Record an exclusive interview instead.

The Flow choice also carries a recent campaign precedent. Lula was interviewed by the podcast’s host, Igor Coelho, during the 2022 campaign, and the live broadcast reportedly reached about 1.09 million viewers at points—more than Jair Bolsonaro’s earlier peak audience on the program.² For Lula’s rivals, Globo offers a shared televised forum; for the president, Flow offers a separate, potentially sizeable channel to voters.