Citizen TV beats all media stations in Kenya in viewership during President William Ruto’s inauguration event viewership on Tuesday, September 13.
Media Council of Kenya (MCK) data released on Wednesday, September 14, showed that the Royal Media Services (RMS)-owned station drew an average of 232,387 viewers followed by NTV which had 67,908.
Nation Newspaper’s YouTube channel came in third with 24,596 followed by KBC which managed a paltry 18,368, despite being a state-funded outlet.
MCK, which tracked the viewership between 12:45p.m. and 3:45p.m., also showed that audience across the board was highest at 1:15pm when former President Uhuru Kenyatta handed over the instrument of power to his successor at Kasarani Stadium.
MCK data showing YouTube viewership of President William Ruto’s inauguration event.
At 12:45p.m. during Ruto’s swearing in ceremony, Citizen TV still maintained the lead with an audience of 263,034 followed by NTV at 66,093.
TV VIEWERSHIP (via streaming) of Presidential Inauguration of @WilliamsRuto in numbers. Source: Media Council of Kenya @MediaCouncilK pic.twitter.com/PgmjtfWmI5
— Linus Kaikai (@LinusKaikai) September 14, 2022
Kenyans.co.ke, Africa Uncensored and Switch TV were the only digital-only media outlets that were featured on the list.
Citizen TV still maintained the lead despite an earlier arrangement that only permitted local media houses to obtain a feed from a contracted private firm.
Before the event, KBC was touted to have obtained exclusive rights to cover the event conclusively but the privilege did not reflect on the MCK leaderboard.
The state-owned station, however, experienced a spike in viewership to over 18,000 from its usual audience that averages at 1,000.
