Category: News
Date: 06.05.2005
Printable version
Election Day saw the culmination of the 91Èȱ¬'s coverage with a multi-media live results service on 91Èȱ¬ ONE, 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4 and 91Èȱ¬ Radio Five Live, plus 91Èȱ¬ Scotland, 91Èȱ¬ Wales, 91Èȱ¬ Northern Ireland and all 91Èȱ¬ local radio stations.
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91Èȱ¬ Online also offered a comprehensive results service, as did Ceefax and Digital Text - via mobile phones.
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91Èȱ¬ News and 91Èȱ¬ Nations and Regions worked closely together for the election and there were 70 OBs in England, Wales and Scotland.
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Around 300 cameras were deployed on election night - far more than at any previous General Election.
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Election Night on 91Èȱ¬ ONE (9.55pm-2.00am) was watched by six million people at its peak last night, with an average of 4.3 million and a share of 35 per cent, according to unofficial viewing figures released today.
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The simulcast programme averaged 4.2 million on 91Èȱ¬ ONE and 65,000 on News 24 - a total of 4.3 million.
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Audiences peaked at six million for the Sunderland South declaration at 10.45pm.
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A total of 14.9 million viewers watched some of the 91Èȱ¬'s coverage between 9.55pm and 2.00am.
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The average audience was identical to 2001 - 4.9 million between 10.00pm and 1.00am, but down on 6.5 million in 1997.
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The provisional figures show that between 9.55pm and 2.00am 91Èȱ¬ ONE Scotland attracted a 19% share (209,000 viewers) with 15% (161,000) also watching on 91Èȱ¬ TWO Scotland.
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91Èȱ¬ ONE Wales attracted a 32% share (201,000 viewers) with 9% (58,000) also watching on 91Èȱ¬ TWO Wales.
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The election presented a huge logistical challenge for 91Èȱ¬ Local Radio stations - all of whom mounted an on-the-night results show, as well as their Friday breakfast coverage.
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The first ever joint exit poll between the 91Èȱ¬ and ITV News predicted the result with startling accuracy, predicting Labour's majority of 161 would be reduced to 66.
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The poll was carried out by the polling organisations NOP and MORI.
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Provisional viewing figures show that over three-quarters (76%) who watched any election results programming across all the channels, watched some 91Èȱ¬ coverage.
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At midnight two-thirds of TV viewers were watching election coverage, 70% of whom were watching on the 91Èȱ¬.
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A total of 422,000 pressed the red button to use the 91Èȱ¬'s interactive service between 9.55pm and 1.00am.
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The figures show that around three-quarters of those who were watching TV news (across all channels) stated that the 91Èȱ¬ was best for election coverage and has the best presenters.
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Almost as many felt the 91Èȱ¬ is best for helping audiences to understand what the parties stand for and for providing fair, accurate and impartial information.
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Just over half of TV News viewers across the campaign period felt there was the right amount of election coverage.
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Almost as many felt there was too much whilst hardly any (3%) felt there wasn't enough.
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The 91Èȱ¬'s Online services also attracted increased users.
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There were 1.5 million visitors to the 91Èȱ¬ Election website alone yesterday, and 8.6 million page impressions. Higher traffic numbers are expected today.
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So far the Election site has generated 45 million page impressions during the campaign.
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On radio, 91Èȱ¬ News was able to offer a results service on six different networks overnight by sharing resources.
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For the first time, a single hub operation at Television Centre switched a total of 76 outside broadcasts around the UK between output on Radio 2, Radio 4, Radio Five Live, World Service, 1Xtra and The Asian Network.
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Across the campaign political programmes have performed strongly.
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Newsnight averaged one million over the past three weeks - more than 10% up on the rest of the year.
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The Newsnight programme on Bank Holiday Monday was watched by 1.5 million people.
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Question Time, This Week and Breakfast with Frost are also performing very strongly. The Ten O'Clock News held its audience.
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The Paxman Interviews in peak time on 91Èȱ¬ ONE performed strongly. The programmes had an average audience of 2.5 milliom, accounting for a 12% share.
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In total 8.5 million people watched at least three consecutive minutes of one of the interviews.
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Around two-thirds of viewers thought that all interviews were impartial and that they all provided fair, accurate and impartial information.
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An average of 2.4 million people watched the Charles Kennedy interview (Monday 18 April), accounting for a 12% share, and the audience gave the programme an Appreciation Index (AI) score of 73.
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Jeremy's interview with Tony Blair (Wednesday 20 April) averaged 2.5 million viewers, equating to a 12% share. The programme had a strong AI score of 78.
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The Michael Howard interview (Friday 22 April) was watched by an average audience of 2.5 million, the highest share of the three interviews (13%) and the highest AI score (a very strong 82), as appreciation increased across the week.
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Three-quarters of viewers (76%) of the Kennedy interview felt it helped them to understand the policies of the Liberal Democrats better and more than two-thirds of viewers of the Howard (69%) one felt it gave them a better understanding of the Conservative Party's plans. The figure was 51% for the Blair interview.
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A total of 39% of viewers of the Kennedy interview claimed that it made them think differently about whether or how to vote in the General Election.
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The Question Time peak time special with three main party leaders attracted an average audience of 4.1 million and a healthy appreciation score of 77.
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Just under three-quarters of the audience (73%) felt that the programme helped them to understand the parties' policies better.
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Seventy two per cent of viewers thought that David Dimbleby's tone was correct and a huge majority thought that the programme was impartial (87%).
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Helen Boaden, 91Èȱ¬ Director of News, said: "We've had terrific audience feedback with some programmes increasing the numbers watching and high levels of audience appreciation.
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"The accuracy of our joint Exit poll with ITV News is especially pleasing.
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"We're also delighted by the strong public response to our unique Question Time Special featuring the three major party leaders in the same programme.
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"In the past, we've always hankered after an American style leader debate but the success of our Question Time special has made us think again.
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"The American Presidential debates tend to be highly stage managed but our Question Time format proved you can get beyond stage management and show genuine interaction between the voters and the party leaders where the issues that matter to the public are discussed in depth."
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During the campaign the 91Èȱ¬'s Election Bus visited 18 towns and cities around the UK over 18 days.
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Sally Magnusson's Election Roadshow visited eight locations across the UK during the election campaign.
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Notes to Editors
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Joint exit poll: The polling companies selected 120 polling stations around the country in a variety of constituencies including marginals and interviewed a total of 21,000 voters yesterday as they left the polling stations.
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The data was fed to a team of psephologists led by Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University with Professor Colin Rallings from Plymouth University, ITV's psephologist.
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The team produced complex models to make sense of the data especially the information coming from the marginals to produce a forecast of share of the vote and number of seats for each of the three main parties.
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The final tranche of data came in at 9.25pm and was analysed by 9.40pm to produce a forecast of a Labour majority of 66. This was then broadcast by both 91Èȱ¬ and ITV as the polls closed at 10.00pm.
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Sources: BARB, The Pulse, 91Èȱ¬ Server Logs.
