Minister of Tourism and Culture, Robert Vessey and the Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of National Revenue, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, are pleased to announce that the media and marketing value of LIVE! with Regis and Kelly recorded in July in Prince Edward Island has far exceeded expectations generating an ad value worth of $22.6 million and counting.
“This was an innovative initiative to attract new visitors to the Island,” said Minister Vessey. “The objective was about building brand awareness as a primary North American culinary and vacation destination. I believe we were able to accomplish this by bringing our primary industries to the forefront and integrating the best of our agriculture, fisheries and tourism in our messaging.”
In the weeks prior to the airing of the four LIVE! with Regis and Kelly broadcasts from Prince Edward Island, the media value of Island mention on-air by hosts Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa was estimated at $3 million. The four on-air shows broadcasted from Prince Edward Island are valued at over $13 million in media exposure.
The media coverage in Canada by third-party endorsement is approximately $6.4 million. In addition to the Canadian exposure, coverage in the US media included print, radio and television, plus local market promotions in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, Detroit and Hartford.
“LIVE! with Regis and Kelly provided a unique and exciting opportunity to profile Prince Edward Island as a tourist destination,” said the Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of National Revenue, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway. “Our Government is pleased that these positive results have significantly exceeded expectations. We remain committed to working with our partners to showcase all of Canada’s Atlantic Provinces.”
CTV reported that the initial broadcast of LIVE! with Regis and Kelly in Prince Edward Island was the most-watched episode ever, reaching nearly 1 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.
During the week, Prince Edward Island ranked number two in the top Google searches in the United States. In addition, the website traffic on the provincial government website was so congested, 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. That excludes all the other sites that would have resulted from the searches, such as Wikipedia or directly on Island tourism operator sites. Tourism newsletter requests increased significantly (up 500 per cent); as well, the PEI Visitor Guide requests doubled.
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-TV, 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.