As Brits go to the polls for the general election tomorrow, just what influence has social media had on UK politics? This new infographic from Kantar Media and Barb looks at Twitter TV Ratings data across the three general election debates to establish the key themes that drove discussion online throughout the debates.
6.3 million people watched the ITV Leaders Debate on 2nd April, compared to 2.6 million who watched the Battle for No. 10 on 26th March and 4 million who watched the BBC Election Debate on 14th April.
But 2 million viewers saw Tweets about the Leaders debate, while 2 million saw them about the Battle for No. 10 and 2.2 million for the BBC Election Debate.
There was great hype in the lead up to the general election debates, with much discussion taking place between broadcasters and political parties in order to reach an approved deal. The final format involved three debates:
• David Cameron and Ed Milliband took part in a live question and answer programme on Channel 4 and Sky News, broadcast on 26 March.
• The second debate was a live debate involving seven party leaders, representing the Conservative, Labour, UKIP, SNP, Green and Plaid Cymru parties, and was broadcast on ITV and Sky News on 2 April.
• The third was the opposition debate between five opposition party leaders, representing Labour, the SNP, the Greens, Plaid Cymru and UKIP parties and was broadcast on the BBC and Sky News.
The infographic below shows which debate had the highest number of viewers, as well as the highest engagement levels, looking at which moments, which leaders and discussion about which policies drove that engagement.
