Canadian networks say Monday’s federal election generated historic engagement, setting new digital records for both CBC and CTV.
CTV News says its Election 2025 federal election special led all networks Monday evening as the most-watched election night special, attracting an average audience of more than 1.8 million viewers in the 9 p.m. ET – midnight coverage window, leading its closest competitor – CBC News – by 6%.
Anchored by CTV Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor Omar Sachedina and Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos, Bell Media says the the primetime special, which aired across CTV, CTV News Channel, CP24, and BNN Bloomberg, was also most-watched among the key Adult 25-54 demographic, +12% ahead of CBC.
CTV was the most-watched conventional network for federal election coverage Monday evening, with an average audience of 1.2 million viewers, and its Election 2025 special reached a total of 9.1 million unique Canadian viewers.
CBC’s Canada Votes: 2025 Election Special drew 7.14 million Canadians to CBC and CBC News Network, drawing a combined 2+ average minute audience of 1.25 million, up 25% compared to the 2021 federal election special. Audiences peaked at 10:11 p.m. ET when 2.63 million viewers watched as Chief Political Correspondent Rosemary Barton announced that the CBC News Decision Desk projected a Liberal government.
Another 1.375 million listeners tuned in to CBC Radio for election night coverage, up 11% from the last federal election.
Digital coverage sets records
CTV News’ digital election coverage saw a new single-day record set of 3.8 million video views across all CTV News platforms on April 28 and a total of 16.1 million page views for federal election coverage.
CTV News’ live election updates article also set a record for most total page views for any CTV News live blog in a single day with more than 2.1 million page views. Streaming of CTV News coverage on election day marked a fivefold increase compared to the 2021 federal election.
Canadians spent 3.5 million hours on CBC’s digital platforms on April 28, the highest-ever day on record for the public broadcaster.
Its Canada Votes: 2025 Election Special was streamed 5.2 million times across cbcnews.ca, the CBC News app, CBC Gem, CBC News YouTube and CBC News TikTok. There were 8 million unique visitors to cbcnews.ca and the CBC News app on election day, with video views up 127% over the public broadcaster’s 2021 federal election coverage. On YouTube, the Canada Votes special captured 3.2 million total views, an increase of 228% over 2021. On CBC Gem, the 2025 election special saw a 130% increase in video views, compared to 2021.
