Some 1.1m browsers, 12,000 Twitter users and 3,000 Facebook users accessed RTÉ’s election coverage. The broadcaster said that with 18.5m page views, this was double the performance achieved during the 2007 elections.
The broadcaster said a specially designed constituency map, which was updated count-by-count to give the latest results, proved to be immensely popular, with about 4.5m views across the whole weekend.
RTÉ’s 24-hour rolling news service, News Now, witnessed it’s highest-ever usage, with 182,000 streams served.
The election tracker feature recorded 1.8m page impressions over the weekend across all platforms (RTÉ.ie, mobile apps and m.rte.ie).
Prior to Election Day on Friday, 25 February, the daily tracker averaged 19,000 page impressions per day.
Some 43pc of all this traffic was to mobile devices. Indeed, there was a strong appetite for election content on mobile over the weekend, generating about 1m page impressions across m.rte.ie, and News Now’s iOS and Android apps.
24-hour social media desk
For the first time, a dedicated 24-hour social media desk was set up. This involved releasing breaking news, election updates and engaging in conversations with close to 3,000 Facebook followers and 12,000 followers on Twitter.
As in the lead-up to Election Day, user-generated content was also posted over the weekend on Campaign Daily, an interactive television programme available to watch on demand on RTÉ.ie/news and the RTÉ Player.
“This was always going to be an extraordinary election with lots of sudden twists, turns and drama and those following it would not want RTÉ online to miss a thing,” explained RTÉ publishing executive director, Múirne Laffan.
“Therefore, we knew that we had to deliver comprehensive, clear and quick news and analysis across multiple digital platforms. The record number of audiences that turned to us is testament to the fact we delivered a substantial public service,” Laffan added.
