Regis and Kelly visit equals $22M in ads: P.E.I.
P.E.I. tourism officials say the Live! with Regis and Kelly episodes broadcast from the island this summer were equivalent to $22 million in advertising.
The popular morning talk show broadcast four episodes from Confederation Landing Park in Charlottetown.
Tourism Minister Robert Vessey calculated P.E.I.'s exposure in terms of free ad revenue.
He pegged the media value of on-air mentions by hosts Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa before the broadcast week at $3 million, the four episodes at $13 million, and media attention in Canada and the U.S. at $6.4 million.
A 30-second spot during the show costs about $60,000.
Vessey also noted that searches for Prince Edward Island were No. 2 on Google during the week of the show's visit, tourism newsletter requests rose five-fold, and the island ran out of visitor guides.
"That all came about shortly after Regis and Kelly aired because we gave all of them out that we had," he said. "So we had to reprint them. And that doesn't happen in tourism very often."
The Tourism P.E.I. website crashed during the show because it couldn't handle all the hits.
The province and the federal government spent $1 million to attract the show.Vessey said the tourism department is planning next year's campaign and there is no plan to bring Regis and Kelly back to the island.