TORONTO – Roughly one in three Canadians and 45% of all Canadian households watched some or all of Live 8 on CTV, July 2. It’s one of the largest total audience reaches of any single program ever aired on the network.
Audiences for the 18-hour, 23-minute broadcast (7 a.m. July 2 to 1:23 a.m. July 3, ET), the longest single-program ever for CTV, peaked at 8:16 p.m. ET when more than 2 million viewers (2.06M) watched Canadian icon Neil Young close out the Live 8 Canada concert with an all-star finale performance of Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World. In total, the 9 hour, 20 minute Canadian concert coverage settled in with an average audience of 1.1 million viewers per minute and a total reach of 7.3 million Canadians.
Additionally, CTV’s "Greatest Hits" telecast portion, extended to five hours to accommodate a wealth of memorable international moments, finished with average audience of 1.1 million viewers per minute and a total reach of 6.7 million viewers. In prime-time alone (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), the Greatest Hits portion of the show drew 1.4 million viewers per minute.
On average, over the full 18-plus-hour broadcast, CTV counted nearly one million viewers (961,000) watching in every minute. The television audience is even more remarkable when considering that Live 8 event fell on Canada’s July 1 long-weekend and doesn’t reflect audiences watching from seasonal residences (cottages), says the CTV press release. All audience data is courtesy BBM Canada.
In comparison to other countries’ Live 8 broadcasts, CTV’s was the most comprehensive and the most all-inclusive. In the UK, the BBC’s 14-hour telecast covered of every act from London’s Hyde Park as well as hits from Philadelphia. By contrast, CTV’s 18-plus hour broadcast featured every act from Canada, while weaving in the international hits, some simultaneously via split-screen, from every single concert around the world. When Canada wrapped, CTV aired its five-hour Greatest Hits segment before bowing in the early hours of July 3.
"We are proud to have been part of such an historic event and we’re extremely satisfied with what we accomplished," said Ivan Fecan, CEO of CTV Inc. and president and CEO of Bell Globemedia. "Never before have the people across this company pulled together to do the impossible and as such, it was a defining moment for CTV."
"In delivering Live 8 on CTV, we achieved our goals," added Susanne Boyce, CTV president of programming and chair of the CTV Media Group. "First to deliver every minute of every Canadian act to our viewers, live and without interruption; second to provide, over the course of the day, a taste of what was happening in every other concert around the world; and third, to ensure that we reminded viewers regularly of the context of the worldwide event. At the end of the day, CTV offered Canadians more overall coverage than any other broadcaster in the world."
The last time Canadians came together like this was July 30, 2003 when artists united in support of a SARS free country. That 12-hour broadcast, from Toronto’s Downsview Park, was seen by some 3.85 million Canadians (vs. 10.5M for Live 8 on CTV) and drew a total average audience of 380,000 viewers on Much Music (vs. 961,000 for Live 8 on CTV) according to Nielsen Media Research.
To pull the Live 8 on CTV broadcast together, CTV’s entertainment, news and sports divisions joined together in an unprecedented mobilization effort and worked around the clock for nearly two weeks to present the historic broadcast, says the CTV release.
“In one of the most complex and comprehensive broadcasting initiatives ever for the network, CTV utilized every available resource and worked around the clock to prepare for the momentous television event. Three different units worked in unison: a studio crew in Toronto where the show was anchored; a mobile crew based on location in Barrie, and another crew who pulled in 18 separate feeds from all international concerts and produced a highlights package with live elements on the fly. In Barrie alone, the production used three digital mobile trucks and two audio trucks.”
Twenty-three cameras were positioned, including a CableCam – a robotic camera traversed the entire concert bowl from a wire hung above the crowd – a helicopter camera and a 50 foot high Super TechnoCrane. In all, over 150 additional crew were hired to assist CTV with the production.
Live 8 on CTV was a CTV original production, produced by CTV’s Agincourt Productions. For CTV Entertainment: Mark McInnis, Jordan Schwartz and Sam Dynes. For CTV News: Tom Haberstroh, Joanne MacDonald and Patricia Skinner.
For CTV Sports: Rick Chisholm. For CTV Engineering: Allan Morris. Ed Robinson is Senior Vice-President, Comedy, Variety and Talk, CTV Inc. Robert Hurst is President, CTV News. Susanne Boyce is CTV President of Programming and Chair of the CTV Media Group. Rick Brace is President, CTV Inc. Ivan Fecan is Chief Executive Officer, CTV Inc. and President and CEO of Bell Globemedia.
