More than half of the UK population tuned into the BBC’s coverage of the State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II.
When combined with coverage from ITV and Sky a total of 29.2 million tuned in at some point during the broadcast.
The main part of the ceremony was carried across all the main terrestrial and basic Sky channels including Sky News and Sky Showcase. Only Channel 5 opted out with a day of family movies.
19.5 million were watching the ceremony on BBC One with an average of 12.9 million tuning in across the broadcast. BBC Two added another 2 million for its signed coverage, ITV was watched by 5.3 million and Sky News peaked at 934,000. All the channels used pooled coverage from BBC Studios with their own presenters and commentators.
According to research organisation BARB, the average audience for the Queen’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey (between 11:00 and 12:06) was 26.2 million across all channels.
The lying-in-state of Her Majesty was streamed 25 million times across BBC online and the iPlayer.
The BBC audience for the funeral service was the largest since the London Olympics in 2012, though far short of the 1966 World Cup final between England and West which in the days of three domestic channels had a combined audience of 32.3 million across the BBC and ITV.
