TV SMASH HIT
Royal Wedding TV coverage was the biggest UK event this year for the BBC and ITV with almost 18 MILLION Brits tuning in
ALMOST 18 million Brits tuned in to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say "I do" – making it the biggest television event of the year by far.
Yesterday’s ceremony was broadcast live across a multitude of channels from St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
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Brits overwhelmingly tuned into the BBC’s coverage of proceedings, led by Kirsty Young, Huw Edwards and Dermot O’Leary, peaking at 13.1million viewers during the ceremony.
Coming in second, but miles behind, was the ITV coverage, which peaked at just 3.6 million viewers.
Records show audiences tuning in to Sky News and the BBC News Channel were substantially smaller - around 500,000 each.
While the viewing figures for Harry and Meghan’s big day are record breaking for 2018, they are significantly smaller than for the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
More than 24million people saw the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge exchange rings, with the BBC and ITV dominating TV coverage at the time.
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How the Royal Wedding has unfolded so far...
- Meghan wore Diana’s ring as Harry drove the pair to their star-studded reception after tying the knot
- Meghan changed out of her Givenchy wedding dress into a bespoke lily white high-neck silk crepe gown by Stella McCartney for the party
- Celebrities including George and Amal Clooney, the Beckhams and Oprah Winfrey partied the night away at the lavish bash
- Elton John entertained guests by singing his hit songs ‘Tiny Dancer’, ‘Your Song’ and ‘Circle of Life’ at the party
- Prince Charles ‘had reception guests in stitches’ with gags about changing Harry’s nappy before a glittering firework display
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle earlier sealed their marriage with a kiss after a groundbreaking modern Royal Wedding
- Meghan stunned in a Givenchy gown with a 15ft veil embroidered with flowers for the ceremony
- Princess Charlotte and Prince George melted hearts with their outfits for the big day
- At the ceremony American Bishop Michael Curry stole the show with an eccentric speech
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The BBC's coverage of Prince Harry’s wedding attracted an average of 8.7 million viewers (64 per cent share), between 9am and 2pm.
By comparison, ITV’s coverage - which was fronted by Phillip Schofield and Julie Etchingham - averaged 2.5 million viewers (18.6 per cent share) between 9.25am and 3pm.
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As well as a number of national and international channels, the ceremony was also streamed live online on YouTube via the British Monarchy's official The Royal Channel.
According to figures from Twitter, social media interest peaked during the passionate sermon delivered by US Bishop Michael Curry, with 40,000 tweets a minute.
The social network confirmed 3.4 million tweets were sent over the course of the entire wedding ceremony.
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