The Queen’s 2019 Christmas Day Broadcast saw a 20% increase in viewers compared to the previous year.
Overnight figures show that 7.85 million people tuned in to watch Her Majesty deliver her annual Christmas message.
That is a 1.55 million increase on The Queen’s 2018 broadcast, when only 6.4 million tuned in to watch the speech.
Her Majesty’s speech was broadcast simultaneously on BBC One, ITV and Sky, and does not include those watching overseas, online or via catch-up services.
The traditional speech was watched by a combined 7.85 million people on the three different channels. The true figure is probably much higher, however, as it does not include the people watching online.
Despite the high ratings for Her Majesty’s speech, for the first time in many years The Queen did not top the Christmas TV ratings.
Instead, comedy Gavin & Stacey attracted a huge average audience of 11.6 million viewers on BBC One.
TV comedy Gavin and Stacey beat The Queen to the top spot in the Christmas TV ratings (BBC/GS TV Productions Ltd/Tom Jackson)
The much-anticipated show returned after a ten year absence and managed to attract 49.2% of all people watching TV in the UK at the time.
The 3rd most watched show was Strictly Come Dancing which pulled in 5.49 million viewers.
The top 10 most-watched shows on Christmas Day
- Gavin and Stacey (BBC One) – 11.6m
- The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast (BBC One, ITV, Sky) – 7.85m
- Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) – 5.49m
- EastEnders (BBC One) – 5.47m
- Michael McIntyre (BBC One) – 5.25m
- Call The Midwife (BBC One) – 5.23m
- Mrs Brown’s Boys (BBC One) – 4.63m
- Coronation Street (ITV) – 4.48m
- Emmerdale (ITV) – 4.11m
- Finding Dory (BBC One) 3.99m
