The ABC offered up the most watched and listened to election coverage across the nation, according to the broadcaster.
ABC News 24 achieved a 24-hour reach of 2.6 million which is the top daily reach for the channel for 2016, and is among the highest ever daily reach figures for the channel.
ABC director of News Gaven Morris says more Australians watched the ABC’s election coverage than any other network – with The ABC and ABC News 24 simulcast, from 4pm, reaching a total of 5.3 million Australians on TV, equating to 22% of the metro and regional populations.
Record breaking traffic
Traffic to ABC News Digital was also among the highest ever recorded, with news and current affairs achieving 2.8 million visitors, 4.3 million visits and 20.5 million page views - doubling the traffic recorded for the 2013 election.
“The ABC delivered the most comprehensive election coverage across television, radio, digital and social, and it’s good to see audiences responded to that,” Morris says.
“Across the campaign and on poll day more Australians came to ABC News for live coverage, essential context and analysis and policy discussion and debate than any other source.
“Australians turn to us during these important events and we are always exploring better ways to serve them.”
Australia Votes: Election Night Live, from 8pm to 9.30pm, was the top program across all networks on Saturday, achieving an average audience of 1.7 million across ABC and ABC News 24. Audiences peaked at two million viewers at 9.50pm.
Smartphone boost
Traffic to ABC News Digital was among the highest ever recorded, with news and current affairs achieving 2.8 million visitors, 4.3 million visits and 20.5 million page views - doubling the traffic recorded for the 2013 election.
It says total ABC TV was the top network on Saturday evening, with a metro prime-time share of 26.9%. Network Nine was number two at 20.3%, with Network Seven then coming in at 18.8%.
Smartphone visits also drove the increase traffic, accounting for 57% of all visits. This was 33% for the previous election and 48% for Saturday year-to-date.
The ABC News 24 Live Stream also recorded 249,000 total plays, comprising 191,000 from the ABC News 24 website and a further 58,000 from iview.
Sources: OzTAM & Regional TAM Preliminary Overnight data; Webtrends
Note: TV reach includes viewers who watched at least five consecutive minutes of coverage. TV and Digital audiences are based on preliminary data.
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