Official TV numbers show that an estimated 28.5 million people in the UK watched Monday’s broadcast of the Queen’s funeral.
Given that the population of the UK is 67 million – and given the blanket coverage of the event – B&T’s unsure of what the other 38.5 million were doing on the day, which was a public holiday.
And if you’re thinking Her Maj’s farewell was the nation’s biggest TV event in history, alas, it didn’t even manage to jag that title either.
The UK’s most watched TV event remains the 2020 Euro final between England and Italy (the Italians winning 3-2 on penalties). The game pulling 31 million TV watchers.
However, there is some debate about the final numbers. Most of the UK’s main free-to-air channels broadcast the Queen’s ceremony and, those combined, tallied to 28.5 million.
What’s not being counted is the people that watched the funeral on what’s called “smut channels” in the UK – adult erotica channels on pay TV that stopped airing porn out of respect for Her Majesty and instead aired the funeral.
Sky Sports is also reporting it attracted 170,000 viewers to its funeral broadcast.
The funeral also aired for free in select cinemas around the country while there was also big screens at major public places like London’s Hyde Park, Sheffield’s Cathedral Square, Birmingham’s Centenary Square, Carlisle’s Bitts Park, Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park and Coleraine Town Hall in Northern Ireland.
Regardless, even with these numbers taken into account it’s widely believed by British media pundits that Euro 2020 still holds the nation’s title of most-watched TV show in history.
