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Canadians Say “I Do” to Bell Media With Canada’s Most- Watched Royal Wedding Programming # # # 1.5 Million Canadians Watch Bell Media’s Coverage of Ceremony
– CTV’s TheRoyals.ca drives CTV.ca to highest one-day online audience ever, with nine million page views and almost half a million Royal Wedding videos viewed –
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Toronto, ON (April 30, 2011) – Bell Media delivered the most-watched Royal Wedding programming of any Canadian media outlet yesterday, preliminary overnight data from BBM Canada reveals. The procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace (7:15-8:30 a.m.) was watched by 1.7 million viewers on average, making it the most- watched television program of the day in Canada. From 6 – 7:15 a.m., 1.53 million viewers watched Bell Media’s coverage of the ceremony itself, the most of any Canadian broadcaster. Bell Media’s audience peaked at 2.2 million viewers at 8:27 a.m. when William and Kate shared two kisses on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. Overall, more than seven million Canadians watched Bell Media coverage from 3 – 10 a.m.
Earlier in the morning, more than half a million viewers (563,000) were tuned to Bell Media channels from 3-6 a.m., more than double that of CBC (246,000) from 2-5 a.m.
BBM reported 1.03 million viewers for CBC’s coverage (5-10 a.m.); 370,000 viewers for Global’s coverage (4-10 a.m.) and 214,000 viewers for Citytv’s coverage (7:30 – 9 a.m.)
Overall, BBM Canada confirms 5.22 million viewers watched the ceremony and procession on television in Canada from 6-8:30 a.m. ET, with 12.55 million Canadians (37.8% of the population) watching all or some of the coverage during that time period.
Additional details from Bell Media’s live coverage yesterday:
. 843,000 viewers stuck around from 8:30 – 10 a.m. for post-ceremony coverage . 309,000 viewers watched a wedding reception special of THE MARILYN DENIS SHOW, overwhelmingly winning the hour. . Nearly one million viewers (951,000) were still glued to Bell Media for its live afternoon special from 1-3 p.m. . 1.2 million viewers watched Bell Media’s live primetime special from 7-9 p.m.
Helmed by CTV News anchor Lisa LaFlamme, the seven-hour live broadcast was simulcast on CTV, CTV News Channel, CP24, as well as CTV’s dedicated Royal Wedding site TheRoyals.ca, and on video-enabled mobile devices subscribing to Bell Mobility’s Bell Mobile TV Variety package.
The Royal Wedding was also a resounding success online. WILLIAM AND KATE: THE ROYAL WEDDING was the most-watched live stream in CTV.ca history with more than 115,000 video views from 85,000 people as the happy couple exchanged vows. Additionally, CTV.ca saw almost nine million page views, 79% higher than the previous one-day record, and welcomed more than one million guests to the site. Bell Media’s dedicated Royal Wedding site, TheRoyals.ca, plus news stories about The Royal Wedding, accounted for more than 60% of traffic to the site. Online audience peaked at more than 24,000 concurrent viewers as Will and Kate exchanged two kisses on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Video views overall, live plus post-event on-demand, totaled almost half a million by the end of the day. These numbers represent the highest one-day single-event totals for streaming within Bell Media for non-sports programming.*
Online audiences were welcomed into Bell Media’s delivery of Royal Wedding to Canadians. More than 51,000** viewers came together to chat online at TheRoyals.ca. Fans also interacted by the thousands through Twitter on @RoyalWeddingCTV and @CTV_Television. Social media and audience reaction became part of The Royal Wedding television broadcast as CTV featured comments from dignitaries around the world, including Prime Minister Harper and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, breaking the news on air as they offered their congratulations to the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Plus, a live Twitter feed at the bottom of the screen brought together grassroots commentary from around the world and included reaction to the dress, the enthusiasm from crowds on the ground at Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park, and speculation on what the Queen keeps in her purse.
CTV NATIONAL NEWS WITH LLOYD ROBERTSON was the choice of Canadians at the end of the day, with 1.43 million viewers, compared to 1.12 million for THE NATIONAL and 1.04 for GLOBAL NATIONAL.
LaFlamme’s team was comprised of royal experts and reporters from Bell Media’s news and entertainment divisions. Joining her at the anchor desk were award-winning actress and comedienne Tracey Ullman, former research curator at Hampton Court Palace and royal biographer Christopher Warwick, and Suzannah Lipsomb, Royal Historian, while Bell Media’s Seamus O’Regan, Joy Malbon, Graham Richardson, Ben Mulroney, Tanya Kim, Jeanne Beker and Elaine “Lainey” Lui reported live from multiple locations at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, key spots along the wedding procession route, street and park parties, pubs around London, and Kate’s hometown of Bucklebury.
About Bell Media Bell Media is Canada’s premier multimedia company with leading assets in television, radio and digital. With passion and an unrelenting commitment to excellence, Bell Media entertains, informs and inspires Canadians. Bell Media owns 28 conventional stations, including CTV, Canada’s #1 television network and lead broadcaster of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and owns and operates 29 specialty channels, including TSN, Canada’s #1 specialty channel and RDS, Canada’s #1 French-language specialty channel. Bell Media also owns 33 radio stations, dozens of websites including the Sympatico.ca portal, and Dome Productions. Bell Media is owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company. For more on Bell Media, please visit www.bellmedia.ca.
Source: BBM Canada (Bell Media networks broadcasting the wedding include CTV/CTV News Channel/CP24) *Source: Omniture, except for peak concurrent streams which is provided by Akamai **Source: Cover it Live – Bell Media –
For more information: Emily Young Lee, Bell Media, [email protected] Carolyn Fell, Bell Media Digital, [email protected] Laura Heath Potter, Bell Media, [email protected] or