Prince Harry's Wedding Got Higher Ratings Than Prince William's
When a British royal marries an American, Americans tune in. That’s likely the logic behind the royal wedding ratings. CNN reports that the American television ratings were higher for Meghan and Harry’s wedding than for William and Kate’s in 2011.
Nielsen calculated that 29 million Americans tuned into the 15 channels that aired the royal wedding. Between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. Eastern time, NBC averaged 6.4 million viewers, ABC had 6.3 million, CBS had 4.8 million, Fox News had 1.9 million, CNN had 1.8 million, and MSNBC had 1 million. For William and Kate’s wedding, a still impressive 22.8 million people tuned in.
The trend was different in the U.K., though, where more people tuned in for William and Kate’s wedding, The Guardian reports. About 18 million people watched Harry and Meghan’s wedding, most of them watching the BBC’s coverage. But 24 million Brits watched William and Kate’s big day in 2011, The Telegraph reported.
A few factors may come into play when it comes to calculating these numbers. For one, William and Kate were married on a Friday morning, and Americans didn’t have the day off, so fewer people may have tuned in. And second of all, these ratings numbers don’t calculate how many people watched the ceremonies on their computers or on their mobile devices. There were options like YouTube streaming, which was available for both weddings, that didn't get counted for the ratings.
So while it’s a little too complicated to declare an overall ratings winner, it’s obvious that the royal wedding captivated audiences on both sides of the pond. And it did so both in 2011 and 2018.
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