One million-plus watch Cathedral Easter liturgies
More than one million people watched the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services live from St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney over the Easter weekend.
In a 7News special, the network streamed both broadcasts nationally on Channel 7 and on Prime 7 in regional areas and online at 7 Plus, winning both timeslots nationally.
The Passion of Our Lord on Good Friday reached 545,000 broadcast viewers with an additional 86,000 online reaching a total of 631,000, 42.4 per cent of the available audience.
The Easter Sunday Mass reached 568,000 broadcast viewers with a further 113,000 online reaching a total of 681,000 viewers – attracting a 46.3 per cent audience share.
Overwhelmingly, the audiences were highest in the Sydney metropolitan area, followed by NSW, the ACT, Western Australia and Queensland.
Anita Quigley for the Archdiocese of Sydney said she was extremely pleased with the response from viewers across the country while thanking 7News for recognising the importance for the faithful to be able to participate in the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services.
“The fact we reached more than one million people across Australia was fantastic,” she said.
“We embarked on this partnership with the Seven Network to reach as many Catholics as possible in the easiest way possible and these figures show we have done just that.
“While so many people have embraced online Mass from parishes and cathedrals in recent weeks, and will continue to do so while our churches remain closed, we also knew there were people we weren’t reaching – particularly the elderly and isolated and we wanted to ensure they could participate."
Catholic Weekly: Report on Cathedral Easter liturgies