RT Election results coverage draws audiences of over a million
Huge audiences turned to RT s extensive Election 2016 coverage across all platforms at the weekend, which was reflected in online traffic and television ratings.
Traffic to RT 's digital services (RTE.ie, RT Now Now app, RT Player and radio apps) for the election coverage was the strongest on record. The total number of page views across RT 's digital services during the election count weekend (Saturday and Sunday) totalled 30.8 million page views, an increase of 68%, compared with the election count of 2011. In total, RT 's digital services attracted 1.19 million unique browsers on Saturday and 1.23 million unique browsers on Sunday.
Dwell time for the online election coverage was also very high with the average online browser spending over 15 minutes on RT .ie and over 10 minutes on the RT News Now app. This weekend, for the first time, an Irish-language general election online results service was also available via RTE.ie/nuacht and on the RT News Now app.
Live and on-demand streaming of the election count results on RT Player and RT Player International attracted over 250,000 streams across the weekend with streaming peaking at 8.00pm on Saturday. Viewers in Ireland accounted for 61% of the streams on RT Player, while 39% of the streams were delivered to international audiences. Streams for election coverage on RT Player were up by 155% compared to the Election Count weekend of 2011.
Across all digital platforms, 75% of browsers for Election 2016 content came from Ireland, while the highest traffic levels outside of Ireland came from the UK, Spain and the US.
RT News provided 24-hour results coverage on its social media platforms for the election results weekend. The 387,000 followers of @rtenews got 24/7 updates on counts and results. Over 22,000 accounts followed tweets from the 40 RT Twitter accounts dedicated to each of the constituencies.
RT News Facebook posts reached over 1.2 million people on Saturday and over 2 million people on Sunday with almost 130,000 reactions to posts across the weekend. @rtenews and @rte on Twitter were the first and second largest growing media accounts in Ireland during the key election period while RT News on Facebook was the fastest growing media Facebook page over the election weekend.
On television, over 2.5 million* viewers tuned into RT One s Election 2016 results and news coverage across the weekend.
One in three people in the Republic of Ireland watched 15 minutes or more of RT One s Election 2016 results coverage across the weekend**.
The marathon 17 hour coverage on RT One Television drew large audiences on Saturday. Starting at 9.00am, audience figures steadily increased to reach a peak viewership of over 833,000*** people during the Nine O'Clock News.
Over 600,000 people stayed with RT One as the extraordinary political events unfolded. Coverage continued until 2.00am, with an average of over 300,000 still watching the live coverage at midnight.
Viewers continued to follow events on RT One on Sunday throughout the day, culminating with a special The Week in Politics programme at 10.45pm attracting an average audience of over a quarter of a million viewers (268,000).
On RT Radio 1, which began its Election 2016 broadcast from 7.00am on Saturday morning, listeners stayed with the programme around the clock until after 2.30am on Sunday. As with coverage on RT Raidi na Gaeltachta, the marathon feat of programming brought results, analysis and excitement from every count centre and constituency across the country.
For the first time a live studio webcam meant RT Radio 1 listeners could log on to RT .ie and watch the debates and analysis unfold with a rolling panel of guests joining presenters including Mary Wilson, Sean O Rourke, Rachael English. Claire Byrne, Richard Crowley, Colm O Mongain, Brian Dowling, Cathal MacCoille and Keelin Shanley. In addition, a range of bespoke video content was produced and accessible on @rteradio1 and @rte on Twitter across the weekend.
RT Radio 1 s programming continued with Morning Ireland on Sunday morning at 8.00am followed by Election 2016 - The Count from 10.00am until 1.00pm. At 1.00 3.00pm This Week with Richard Crowley and Colm Mong in continued with election coverage and political interviews and later yesterday evening a This Week Special was broadcast at 6.00pm.
RT 2fm presented a unique take on the election results on Saturday night as The Election Disco hosted by Keith Walsh and Jenny Greene brought music, chat and up to the minute election count coverage from the centre of Bernard O Shea s sofa!
- Ends -
Date: Tuesday 1st March, 2016.
Sources:
Data for online traffic (unique browsers and page impressions) - ComScore Digital Analytix.
Television viewing figures source - Nielsen / TAM Ireland
* Election 2016 and News related programming combined registered a 1 minute reach figure of 2.51 million for Individuals RT One & RT One 1 (Sat & Sun broadcasts)
**Election 2016 coverage registered a 15 minute reach figure of 1.61 million for Individuals RT One & RT One 1 combined (Sat & Sun broadcasts)
*** The peak viewing minute at 21:19 on Sat 27th of 833,500 viewers
Contact:
Laura Fitzgerald, Communications Manager, RT News & Current Affairs, Ph:01-2083996, 087 2923931, Laura.Fitzgerald@rte.ie
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RT Election results coverage draws audiences of over a million 
