The BBC News Channel and Sky News both reached more viewers in July than they have in any month since October 2022.
The uptick for viewers to the UK’s biggest TV news channels came in the month that saw an assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump, the UK general election results and start to the first Labour government in 14 years, the climax of the Euros, and a stabbing attack at a children’s dance class in Southport which triggered the start of riots.
Sky News was also briefly the news as it tried to report the news, being briefly taken off air on the day of a massive global IT outage on Friday 19 July after, it was later confirmed, a faulty software update by cybersecurity provider Crowdstrike.
In July the monthly reach of the BBC News Channel was up by 22% compared to June to 12.8 million, while Sky News was up 25% to 10 million.
Compared to July last year, they were up by 25% and 16% respectively.
It was the first time Sky News has crossed the 10 million mark in a month since October 2022, according to BARB broadcast viewing data.
In a note to staff on Monday, seen by Press Gazette, Sky News executive chairman David Rhodes said the channel’s “average daily reach for the month put us tenth in all UK TV, inclusive of PSB channels, and the largest Sky-branded channel for the month which included the general election”.
He added: “Sky News beat BBC News Channel on five days in July, which brought us closer to the competition than any month this year,” referring to 4 July (polling day), 5 July (election results day), 9 July (start of new Parliament), 23 July and 25 July.
“We’ve been closing that gap across all metrics, and nearly doubled BBC News Channel’s reach on the day of attempt on Donald Trump.”
BBC News did have its own viral hit in the immediate aftermath of the Trump rally with correspondent Gary O’Donoghue’s interview with a man describing seeing a man on a roof in the minutes before the shooting.
Citing Sky News' internal Adobe metrics, Rhodes also claimed the brand reached a digital audience of 37.6 million users in July - more than 50% above its monthly average in 2024 so far across its website and app.
Ipsos iris figures (which are collected differently and so are not directly comparable) put Sky News on an audience of 20.6 million in June.
Rhodes also said Sky News saw visits up 32% compared to the 2024 monthly average to 197 million in July, with page views up 31% to 668 million.
Rhodes said in a statement to Press Gazette: "Coming out of the general election, audiences came for US politics, sport - even our own experience of the global IT outage seemed to deliver what we call 'the full story, first'."
In his note, he praised staff for sending "concise and timely" push alerts, particularly on Sundays, saying they had outperformed the market on developments in US politics.
The assassination attempt against Trump happened just after 11pm UK time on Saturday 13 July with updates on what happened coming throughout the following day. The following weekend, on Sunday 21 July, Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.
Rhodes told staff: "We are more agile and responsive than the competition on breaking news events."
He also described video as a "bright spot", with 53.6 million views across the Sky News website and app "not to mention views off-platform".
In the past few days Sky News has rolled out improvements to its iOS mobile app to "put video more at the centre of the experience", he said, with an Android update to follow.
However Rhodes also warned of the difficulties facing journalists in the UK and elsewhere, writing in his note to staff: "In the past week, Sky News colleagues on four continents described to me some form of difficulty they've faced delivering our eyewitness journalism," referring to coverage of everything from the conflict in Israel and Gaza to the riots taking place in cities across the UK.
Amid a brawl between right-wing protesters and counter-protesters in Bristol on Saturday, Sky News correspondent Tom Cheshire and his cameraman Chris "both took beer bottles to our helmets". Separately a freelance journalist, Amanda Ferguson, was called a "traitor" while covering riots in Belfast on Saturday and had her phone "smacked" out of her hand.
Rhodes concluded his note by writing: "Events in these opening days of August will have been tough to process, and I'd encourage colleagues to seek the support they might need from their managers and from our company in continuing to respond.
"Let's remember that in febrile times like these, people depend on Sky News more than ever-- it's fundamentally our promise of 'the full story, first.' We all have a job to do."
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