HUNDREDS of thousands of people were glued to their TV sets on Sunday for an average of over six hours, watching the presidential election coverage, according to the AGB Cyprus Nielsen audience measurement.
All major TV channels covered the elections with special programmes in place before and after voting closed collectively harnessing 578,810 viewers who tuned in even for just one minute, even more than the previous presidential elections when 566,090 people tuned in.
Average viewing time came to 378 minutes compared with 366 minutes in 2008, Nielsen said.
“The twelve minute difference is considered very large for TV, and shows viewers great interests,” Nielsen said.
TV channels CyBC, Mega, Ant1, Sigma and Plus TV broadcasted between them some 41 hours on the elections. CyBC led the way with 14 hours and four minutes of broadcasting material, Mega lagged behind with 11 hours and 28 minutes, Ant1 dedicated less time with just seven hours and 56 minutes, Sigma seven hours and five minutes, while Plus TV settled with just two hours and 32 minutes’ coverage, Nielsen said.
Viewing peaked between 8.25pm and 8.29pm when some 397,730 people were watching TV to see the final results.
Some 317,440 people were watching TV between 6pm and 6.05pm on to see what the exit polls predicted after voting closed and exit polls were broadcasted.
The battle of the ratings was won by state broadcaster CyBC which got 20.7 per cent share of viewings, followed by Sigma with 19.7 per cent, Ant1 with 18.8 per cent, and MEGA with 15.0 per cent, Nielsen said. However, cable channels and other channels that did not cover elections got a 22.5 per cent share.