15 September 2010

Almost a million and a half people watched S4C’s programmes from Wales’ summer events this year – hundreds of thousands more than tuned in to the summer events programmes in 2009.

A total of 1.4 million throughout the United Kingdom watched the programmes in the series Digwyddiadau ’10 broadcast from 17 events – large and small – held all over Wales. This is an increase of 44% on the number of viewers who watched Digwyddiadau ’09 on S4C last year.

And this year so far an average of 611,000 people have watched S4C’s Welsh language programmes weekly compared to 534,000, an increase of 77,000 – or 13% - for the same period last year.

There’s more good news as the number of viewing sessions on S4C’s on-demand viewing service Clic increases substantially. On-line viewing sessions of S4C programmes in the first six months of this year totalled over three-quarter million (780,000), an increase of 324,000 – or 71% - compared to the same period last year.

Welcoming the big increase in the number of people viewing programmes from summer events across Wales, Rhian Gibson, S4C’s Director of Commissioning, said, “These figures are further confirmation that S4C is the channel where Wales’ summer celebrations can be seen by thousands upon thousands who can’t get to the events themselves and by many who attend but still want to enjoy the fun and excitement again on screen in Digwyddiadau ’10.

“The fact that almost a million and a half people watched our programmes from the festivals and other events over the summer is proof of the viewers’ appreciation of our programmes from communities throughout Wales.”

Special programmes were broadcast from events from Anglesey to Caerphilly and from Pembrokeshire to Denbighshire – events such as Nefyn Show and Cardigan’s Barley Saturday to national festivals including the Urdd National Eisteddfod in Llanerchaeron, the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd and the National Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale.

And the event organisers appreciate the wider exposure being given to their big occasions by S4C’s coverage. Elinor Roberts, who organises Gŵyl Gobaith in Flint with singer, Rhys Meirion, said, “The fact that S4C filmed Gŵyl Gobaith was extremely valuable for us. With the festival in its second year, the S4C programme was an excellent way of promoting the event, and it proved that it was a significant event. In a way, it gave the festival credibility. Many people who hadn’t attended this year said they’d be coming next year.”

Eirian Lloyd Hughes, General Secretary of Nefyn Show, said, “It was a real privilege to have the show featured on S4C – it was a superb opportunity of sharing this event, the area and its characters with the rest of the nation.”

And Seimon Menai, one of the organisers of Chwilog’s unique music festival ‘Chwilgig’, said, “It was a pleasure working with S4C. Several local bands were featured in the programme which is great because that’s one of the main aims of the festival.”

Ends