CBC News has released audience insights indicating that the looming U.S.-Canada trade war boosted views on its mobile app to a level not seen since 2022.
The viewer bump began Saturday, Feb. 1 when U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on Canadian goods and energy, followed by the Canadian government response. Canadians continued to tune in through news of the late-breaking 30-day reprieve on Monday, Feb. 3.
CBC says 4.5 million Canadians tuned in to CBC News Network from Feb. 1-3, making it the most-watched English-language Canadian news network. According to Numeris TV data released by the public broadcaster, audiences spent more time with CBC News Network than any other news specialty channel over the weekend, garnering the highest average minute audience compared to any other specialty news channel.
The network says 2 million viewers tuned in to flagship evening news program, The National, on Monday, Feb, 3, the second-highest viewership this season after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation on Jan. 6.
Average daily views on the CBC News app between Feb. 1-3 were up 120% from the daily average in January, with the app recording a 32% increase in average daily unique visitors over those three days.
CBCNews.ca and the CBC News app received 4 million unique visitors on Feb. 3, the highest number since coverage of the Rogers network outage on July 8, 2022. Feb. 1 was the highest single day for mobile CBC News and app hours since Feb. 19, 2022 during the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa.
