Tens of thousands of people across the country and beyond kept up to date on the election counts in Galway via the Galway Advertiser's online coverage over the weekend.
The Advertiser's news team provided live coverage of the counts with live blogs on the website, www.advertiser.ie, as well as on social media throughout the weekend, right up to the final count in Galway West which saw Deputy Noel Grealish re-elected in the early hours of Monday morning.
Nearly 15,000 people followed the live blogs over the weekend, viewing the updates close to 50,000 times with the Galway West live blog proving particularly popular both with locals in Galway and with viewers around the world. Along with site visitors in Galway and across Ireland, the live blogs attracted hundreds of visitors in the UK, US, Australia, and mainland Europe.
The Advertiser's coverage across five social media platforms also proved hugely popular, with updates on the Advertiser Facebook page garnering 365,000 views from 59,000 people both in Galway and across the world. Video coverage of the counts received more than a million impressions over the weekend, with a combined watch time of 14 days and 10 hours.
Along with Facebook, the news team provided regular updates on Instagram, X, Threads and Bluesky, with 8,500 people viewing Advertiser Instagram updates nearly 33,000 times.
"The impressive number of people who used our digital media platforms to keep up to speed on the progression of the General Election is testament to the interest there is in using a local brand to bring the news that matters as it happens," said Galway Advertiser group editor, Declan Varley. "This shows the enduring loyalty there is to local news brands.
"The statistics are also a credit to the teams of reporters who created the engaging content to hold the audience right through the duration of the lengthy count. Long may good local independent journalism continue."
