Viewers overwhelmingly have chosen CP24 and CTV News for television coverage of this weekend’s G20 summit and accompanying riots and protests in Toronto. From dozens of crews and reporters in the field to three live anchor desks and control rooms, this unique and unpredictable weekend reinforced that when news happens, viewers choose CP24 and CTV.
CP24:
• Toronto’s source for breaking news, CP24 blew up its own ratings record with an astonishing 3.2 million unique viewers on Saturday and 3.6 million viewers on Sunday, the most-watched day in the station’s history. The total unduplicated reach from Friday to Sunday on CP24 was 4.6 million viewers.
• As riots continued in Toronto’s downtown core on Saturday night, more people in Toronto were watching CP24 than any other channel.
• On Sunday night, more viewers watched CTV NEWS AT SIX on CP24 than tuned into evening newscasts on broadcast networks Global, CITY and CBC.
• In addition, CP24.com more than tripled its average daily online page views receiving more than 600 photos and videos from citizen journalists, while @CP24 followers on Twitter increased 41% over just two days.
“The record number of people watching speaks to importance of what CP24 is all about: Toronto’s Breaking News,” said Bob McLaughlin, Vice-President and General Manager of CP24. “What we saw unfolding was unprecedented and our viewers helped us tell the story live; we couldn’t have done it without them.”
CTV Toronto:
• CTV NEWS AT SIX increased its average audience by 76% on Saturday night compared to its 2009-10 Saturday average, and was watched by 370,000 viewers.
• On Sunday, once again, CTV Toronto was the #1 choice again with an average audience of 322,000 viewers on CTV and a cumulative total of 495,000 including the audience watching CTV’s NEWS AT SIX on CP24.
CTV National News:
• As the riots escalated Saturday night, CTV was the only network to go live with a national primetime news special. Anchored live by Lloyd Robertson from 7 – 8 p.m. ET, the special was watched by an average 731,000 viewers, more than doubling the summer timeslot average with the three key adult demos 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54. It was the most-watched G20 related program on Saturday on Canadian television.
• CTV NATIONAL NEWS WITH SANDIE RINALDO was the #1 choice for viewers with more than one million average viewers (1,035,000) on Saturday night.
• The G20 high carried into Sunday night too with an average audience of 1,378,000 viewers was up 24% compared to its summer average.
CTV News Channel:
• When chaos struck Toronto on Saturday, CTV News Channel was the #1 national news network with an average audience of 156,000 and had a reach of more 3.6 million viewers.
• Saturday’s audience was the highest of any day in the history of the channel, going back to its launch in 1997, for both total viewers and A25-54.
• CTV News Channel viewing was 54% higher than CBC News Network for total viewers and 95% higher for A25-54.
• Viewership was almost six times the average level for a Saturday, and for A25-54 was more than eight times its typical level.
CTV.ca
• CTV.ca had a record day on Sunday with more than 4 million page views, a 169% increase over the average daily traffic. The most popular feature was the “G-20 Toronto in Chaos” photo gallery, which attracted more than 2.5 million page views.
• During the last seven days of online coverage, leading up to and during the G8-G20, CTV.ca received almost 4 million visits (3,977,649) and delivered more than 2.6 million video plays. (Source: Ominture Analytics)
“CTV’s coverage of the G20 and surrounding events was comprehensive, accurate, engaging, and first,” said Robert Hurst, President CTV News. “Our pool of resources consistently delivers reporting power far beyond the capability of any single platform, which is why for news on historically significant events such as this Canadians turn to the CTV family, from CP24’s breaking news format to CTV News’ thorough editorial coverage.”
