CBC marks biggest day ever on digital on April 28
CTV News’ Election 2025 primetime federal election special was the most-watched broadcast coverage on Monday evening, leading all network competitors, according to a Bell Media press release Tuesday that cited data from Numeris.
The CTV News special drew an average audience of 1.8 million viewers in the 9 p.m. ET – midnight coverage window, leading its closest competitor, CBC, by six per cent, according to the press release. Anchored by CTV’s chief news anchor and senior editor Omar Sachedina and chief political correspondent Vassy Kapelos, the election special aired across CTV, CTV News Channel, CP24 and BNN Bloomberg, reaching a reported total of 9.1 million unique Canadian viewers. It also delivered the most-watched coverage in the Adult 25-54 demographic, 12 per cent ahead of its closest competitor, the press release said.
In addition, CTV was the most-watched conventional network for federal election coverage on Monday night, with an average audience of 1.2 million viewers, according to Bell Media, which said CTV’s viewership led its nearest conventional competitor by 35 per cent.
CTV News boasted being the first news organization to call the Liberal Party’s win at 10:07 p.m. ET and its minority government status at 10:52 p.m. ET.
On digital, CTV News broke multiple records, including achieving a new single-day record of 3.8 million video views across all CTV News platforms on April 28, Bell Media said. Other reported achievements included CTV News’ live election updates article garnering more than 2.1 million page views, marking the most total page views for any CTV News live blog in a single day ever. Streaming of CTV News coverage on April 28 represented a fivefold increase compared to viewership of its 2021 federal election coverage, Bell Media said, adding CTV News platforms garnered a total of 16.1 million page views for federal election coverage on April 28.
Over at CBC, the national public broadcaster said in a press release Tuesday that Canadians spent 3.5 million hours on CBC digital platforms on April 28, marking CBC’s biggest day ever on digital. CBC News’ Canada Votes: 2025 Election Special, which aired Monday from 6:30 p.m. ET to 2 a.m. ET Tuesday, was streamed 5.2 million times across cbcnews.ca, the CBC News App, CBC Gem, CBC News YouTube and CBC News TikTok platforms, CBC said.
In addition, there were eight million unique visitors to cbcnews.ca and the CBC News App on April 28, with video views up 127 per cent compared to 2021 federal election coverage, CBC said. On the CBC News YouTube channel, the Canada Votes: 2025 Election Special captured 3.2 million total views, an increase of 228 per cent over the 2021 federal election special, and CBC Gem saw a 130-per-cent increase in video views compared to the 2021 election special, according to CBC.
On its broadcast networks, 7.14 million Canadians tuned in to CBC and CBC News Network for CBC News’ Canada Votes: 2025 Election Special. The two networks drew a combined average minute audience of 1.25 million, an increase of 25 per cent compared to CBC’s 2021 federal election special, CBC said.
CBC audiences peaked at 10:11 p.m. ET when 2.63 million viewers watched as CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton announced the CBC News Decision Desk projected a Liberal government.
On CBC Radio, nearly 1.4 million listeners tuned in for election night coverage, an increase of 11 per cent compared to the last federal election, CBC said.
CBC cited Numeris, Adobe Analytics, YouTube analytics and TikTok Live Center video analysis analytics as its data sources.
CTV News image courtesy of Bell Media
