Canada Votes CTV #1 for 2008 Debate Coverage

-- 2008 Federal Election Debate attracts 1.04 million viewers on CTV --

As Canada prepares to head to the polls on October 14, viewers have once again made CTV their choice for ongoing election coverage. A total of 1.03 million viewers - peaking at 1.3 million - tuned in to the two-hour 2008 Federal Election Debate live on CTV last night, delivering 60% more viewers than Global (647,000) and 22% more than CBC (853,000). By the end of the evening, CTV News programs had delivered 3 out of the Top 5 most-watched programs on Canadian television (#3, CTV Evening News; #4, CTV News Special: 2008 Federal Election Debate; #5, CTV National News with Lloyd Robertson).

Also to note:

· 3.5 million viewers watched the debate whole or in part on CTV

· CTV's debate broadcast was #1 with the three key advertising demos, A25-54, A18-49 and A18-34. Compared to the last leadership debate in January 2006, CTV saw double-digit increases in all demos, especially among younger viewers: up 75% A18-34; up 34% A18-49; and up 11% A25-54.

· In all, more than 2.5 million Canadians watched the debate on the three Canadian networks.

· Canadians overwhelmingly chose the 2008 Federal Election Debate over the U.S. Vice-Presidential Debate: by a 3-1 margin in Toronto, 4-1 in Vancouver and 3.5-1 in Calgary.

Immediately following 2008 Federal Election Debate, Canadians made CTV their choice for post-debate analysis, with 992,000 viewers staying tuned to watch CTV National News With Lloyd Robertson, 36% more than The National on CBC (730,000) in the same time-slot at 11 p.m. and 20% more than Global National (825,000) at 5:30 p.m. Earlier in the evening, CTV Evening News garnered 1.2 million viewers.

This Sunday, October 5 at 12 Noon ET on CTV (visit CTV.ca to confirm local listings), Question Period co-hosts Craig Oliver, CTV's Parliamentary Bureau Chief, and Jane Taber, the Senior Parliamentary Writer in The Globe and Mail's Ottawa bureau, analyze the debates as well as this week's hot-button issues and political players. For continuing election coverage, visit election.ctv.ca.

Source: Preliminary overnight data, CTV Total, Global Total and CBC Total (BBM Nielsen Media Research).