NPR Reports Largest Audience Ever During Election Coverage

During last week's election coverage the NPR website (NPR.org) saw its largest audience ever, reaching over 34.7 million unique users – eclipsing NPR's typical weekly broadcast radio listenership. In total, these unique visitors generated 158.9M pageviews for the election week (Nov. 1st - Nov. 7th) on NPR.org, with additional consumption of NPR-produced content across the network of Member station digital properties.

Among NPR's digital election coverage was the daily NPR Politics podcast with its rotating panel of political reporters and editors, a liveblog that brought in breaking news and expert analysis from the full roster of NPR correspondents and NPR's election result pages which included 'bubble tallies' of electoral votes flowing towards each candidate's ledger as states reported their results.

In addition to the signature news magazine shows, audiences now access NPR's journalism in more ways than ever before including NPR.org, Member Station websites and audio streams, the NPR One and NPR smartphone apps, smart speakers, NPR podcasts, and natively on many social media platforms from Twitter to TikTok.

"Audiences turned to NPR for credible and trustworthy news coverage at an inflection point in American history," said NPR CEO John F. Lansing. "When it matters most, we are here for audiences as they grapple with a deeply divided nation, a pandemic that continues to intensify, a financial crisis that has wreaked havoc around the world, and an overdue reckoning with systemic racism and its legacy. I attribute the success of our audience growth to the work of our dedicated journalists and support staff and the collaborative effort of our local Member stations across the country. We will continue to bring our best selves to this time of many challenges."

Election Coverage Highlights:

• NPR.org reached 34.7 million unique users on Election Week.
• NPR.org generated 158.9 million pageviews during the election week.
• On the day after election day, there were 41 million story views across NPR platforms on November 4th, up 500% compared to a typical Wednesday.
• The day after the election saw a 60% increase in station streaming listeners when compared to an average Wednesday.
• Election day audiences saw significant growth on NPR.org, with 65% more visitors in 2020 than on Election Day 2016.
• Traffic to Member station sites was up 50% compared to a typical Tuesday, and up 43% compared to Election Day 2016.
• The NPR One app hit an all-time audience high on election night with about twice as many listeners compared to Election Day 2016 and almost quadruple the total listening hours.
• Weekly users for the daily The NPR Politics Podcast reached a record high, up 36% last week compared to the prior 13 week average.
• Users for the NPR Alexa skill reached an all time high on November 4th, up 50% compared to a typical Wednesday.