Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Billie Eilish Star as Glastonbury Draws Record Digital Audiences for BBC

A star-studded Glastonbury 2022 edition has yielded record breaking audiences for the BBC across its digital platforms.

Popular sets from the festival included Pyramid stage headliners Paul McCartney, who revealed surprise guests Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl, and Billie Eilish, as well as performances from Crowded House, Diana Ross, Little Simz, Megan Thee Stallion, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Sam Fender.

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Content was streamed a record 34.1 million times on streamer BBC iPlayer. This included 23 million live streams, the highest on record for a BBC program brand. The event was played 2.3 million times on audio service BBC Sounds.

Streams increased by 116% on BBC iPlayer and 205% on BBC Sounds from 2019 when the festival was last held – up from 15.8 million and 765,000 respectively. The data includes viewing and listening from June 10 to June 27 and compares to the same days in 2019.

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BBC’s TV channels also attracted audiences in the millions. On BBC One, McCartney’s performance had a peak audience of 3.9 million and an average audience of 2.7 million while Ross’ performance had a peak audience of 3.8 million and an average audience of 3.1 million.

Lorna Clarke, BBC director of music, said: “The BBC provided the ultimate armchair experience of the world’s best-loved festival this weekend with a dedicated Glastonbury channel on BBC iPlayer, 6 Music’s all day Glastonbury coverage, performances from the biggest artists on demand on BBC Sounds and over 35 hours of coverage across our TV channels. The party isn’t over yet, with over 90 sets and key tracks from the five filmed stages available to watch on BBC iPlayer – including Pyramid Stage performances in ultra high definition.”

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