DURING the course of last Friday, during which time the Scottish election results were being announced, almost one million people used BBC Scotland’s online news service, with more than seven million page views taking place during the 24 hours from midnight on Thursday, two hours after the ballot boxes had closed.
It prompted BBC Scotland’s head of news and current affairs, Atholl Duncan, to declare: “This is a record and these are astonishing figures. This confirms a significant change in the way that news audiences access the latest on major stories.”
He added: “Now our online service is complementing the excellent coverage we also carried on TV and radio.”
During the election campaign, the service also hosted a daily election ‘webcast’, based on questions and views from users.
In total, there were eight-and-a-half hours of audio, featuring 34 contributors from minority groups and the mainstream parties.
There was also a blog, written by BBC Scotland political editor, Brian Taylor, who kept it going during Thursday night and Friday morning, while also appearing on the Beeb’s live television coverage of the results – such as they were – coming through.
