The visibility of the Hans Christian Andersen bicentenary largely hinged on national and international media exposure.

According to feedback from our international partners worldwide the event was covered by the press in more than 60 countries.
On behalf of the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation the media monitoring and evaluation agencies Durrants of London and Observer of Copenhagen monitored the media coverage in 35 selected countries. Press clippings amount to a total of 14,903.

VisitDenmark branch offices worldwide not only contributed to PR activities they also monitored the press coverage.

The opening show
The grand opening show Once Upon a Time… , which took place on 2 April 2005 at the Danish national football stadium in Copenhagen, also helped generate worldwide awareness of the Andersen bicentenary.
The show was televised live by Danish national broadcaster DR1 to a national audience of 1.6 million, which equals a 4.1 rating. The British company 3DDTV has since sold the show to stations across the globe. VNR news clips from the show were furthermore featured by 60 international TV stations which are part of the EBU network. These clips, which were broadcasted in the days immediately following the event, were seen by 100 million viewers (Source: EBU, Reuters, APTN and Wonderful Copenhagen). Among the TV stations that featured the news clips were the BBC; the German stations ARD, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, and ZDF; AP TV; RAI (Italian TV); the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Channel 9; CNN; Euronews; HBO Latin (South American TV network).

Since April 2005, the opening show has been sold to 29 countries. Along with Denmark these countries represent a minimum of 593 million potential viewers. The show is either broadcasted in its entirety or features in edited versions. (Source: 3DDTV).

In comparison, the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest was broadcasted to approx. 120 million potential viewers (Source: DR).