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The Sussexes

The Royal Wedding was the most watched British TV event of the year

A peak of 18 million British people tuned in to watch the coverage of Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding. This makes it the biggest television event of the year.

13.1 million people were watching as the newlyweds left St George’s Chapel and took a tour of Windsor Across ITV and the BBC. The average combined viewing figures worked out at 11 million. This is a decisive lead on the FA Cup which averaged at 6.7 million and peaked at only 8.7 million.

Across all channels, the Royal Wedding was the most watched event of the year. The first episode of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent had a peak viewer count of 9.6 million.

Across the pond, in the USA the Royal Wedding boasted an impressive 29.2 million viewers according to a new Nielsen report. across the six networks carrying out. This was despite the early morning broadcast, in which the majority of the procession and royal wedding took place between 6 and 9 AM PT.

More American’s tuned in to watch the Royal Wedding in the early hours of the morning than British people did.

According to reports, the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got more viewers than the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in America.

This could be contributed to Meghan Markle’s popularity in the US as an actor, as well as the presence of the Royal Family on the world stage.

Coverage of the wedding in America has been hyped up for months. TV networks secured a special deal with a local hotel to get exclusive views of Windsor Castle; a view that is often off-limits to cameras.

The TV network CBS even aired a special on Meghan Markle in April. As well as that, they dedicated six hours of coverage to the royal wedding, as well as recap later on in the evening.

The executive producer of CBS This Morning Ryan Kadro, said: “A wedding like this doesn’t come along very often, but any time you can, that is sustained coverage, and it’s kinda why you get into the business.”