Minister of Tourism and Culture, Robert Vessey and the Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency would like to thank all the contributing partners, Islanders, volunteers and guests for their efforts in helping to make LIVE! with Regis and Kelly in Prince Edward Island such an overwhelming success.
“I want to thank Islanders for their warm embrace and gracious hospitality,” said Minister Vessey. “I am so impressed with how the entire Island contributed to the success of this project. We are very proud of Prince Edward Island and hearing celebrities like Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa express a strong interest in our Island helps us expose millions of people to who we are, where we are and all the great things we have to offer.”
According to a recent news release issued by CTV, “LIVE! with Regis and Kelly” in PEI was the most-watched episode ever, reaching nearly one million viewers on CTV. A total audience of 968,000 viewers tuned-in to watch. The popular and highly discussed broadcast from Confederation Landing Park was the most-watched episode ever for the series. Additionally, the first Canadian-based episode more than doubled the average audience of 417,000 viewers this season, seeing an increase of 132 per cent.
“The Government of Canada was pleased to be a partner in this initiative,” said the Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of National Revenue, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway. “The experience was a positive one for Prince Edward Island, and I am confident the increased profile will be beneficial for the Island and Atlantic Canada as a whole.”
Earlier in the week, Prince Edward Island ranked number two in the top Google searches in the United States. In addition, the traffic on the provincial government website was so great, bandwidth had to be increased. Daily traffic to the government website, thanks to LIVE! with Regis and Kelly, experienced 100 per cent increase in volume.
The Tourism PEI website also doubled in traffic after the first episode aired on Monday. That excludes all the other sites that would have resulted from the searches, such as Wikipedia and Island tourism operator sites. Tourism newsletter requests went through the roof (up 500 per cent), and PEI Visitor Guide requests doubled.
“This opportunity went a long way to address a challenge we face in building brand awareness in key growth markets in Canada and the United States,” said Kevin Murphy, Tourism Advisory Council Chair. “We were looking to build on the Golf Channel Big Break airing last year with another creative way to reach those targeted high yield growth markets in 2010. This, along with events like Summerfest featuring Cirque du Soleil and the Cavendish Beach Music Festival are all key investment pillars that build the shoulder season which is so important for our tourism industry.”
Media outlets from Canada and the US featured many stories of LIVE! with Regis and Kelly in PEI on the Confederation Landing Park. CTV Atlantic, Canada AM, CTV National news channel, Live at 5, E-Talk, ET, Extra, Atlanta station, WSB, CBC Radio Canada, CBC National, Globe and Mail, national and regional radio stations, additional local and regional media outlets all reported on Regis and Kelly’s visit to PEI.