Some historians believe this, too, was
Michael Jackson.
Chances are if you turned on a television set Tuesday morning, you caught a glimpse of Michael Jackson's memorial service (highlights here). The event received blanket coverage from a whopping 18 networks of all varieties, including straight-news channels such as CNN and MSNBC and E!, the same network that airs the bimbo-tastic Kendra. So of course tons the ratings were off-the-charts.
Nielsen has released the ratings figures on the service, and if you had 31,140,882 people watching in your office pool, congratulations! The hard-to-miss event pulled in a 20.6 rating and 56 share across all U.S. networks, which are insane numbers and even more stunning considering it was a daytime event (or just a scary reminder of the nation's unemployment rate). Worldwide, AEG Live -- the event's organizer -- estimates that more than 1 billion people watched Jackson's service.
As widely viewed domestically as the event was, it was actually less than the 2004 funeral for Ronald Reagan (which aired on a Friday evening) and the 1997 funeral for Princess Diana (which aired live in the states early on a Saturday). Reagan's farewell was watched by more than 35 million viewers, and Diana's burial was watched by more than 33 million.
However -- and this is a big "however" -- these figures do not account for online streams of the event. 2004 may have only been five years ago, but online video capabilities and accessibility were nowhere near what they are today. It's likely that once online figures are factored in, Jackson's memorial service would top both Reagan and Diana's funerals in viewership.
Of course no one has anything on America's passion for football -- this year's Super Bowl was the most-watched television event in U.S. history, dragging in an average of 98.7 million viewers and peaking with 151.6 million concurrent viewers.
UPDATE: The Baltimore Sun is reporting that Jackson's memorial was viewed by more than 20 million online and on mobile phones, easily eclipsing the audiences for both Reagan and Diana.
Comments (12)
Michael you will forever be missed! And all of your fans on the No1 millionaire club***C e l e b m i n g l e . c o m*** too! My heart cries out every time I hear one of your songs or see one of your videos. Has any guys heard the news that his ex wife is dating at this site??
I was NOT one of those people who watched.
Was forced to watch against my will.
No thanks! --- When I want to watch a circus, I will go to one under the big top! I respect the contributions MJ made to the music industry & his charitable support. But on this very sad moment in time, with exception of his immediate family ---- the balance of the performers involved in this "tribute" seemed to have motives that were purely selfish & self promoting of their own celebrity. I look forward to seeing future programs & documentaries that show MJ's life and entertainment contributions ---- I think that will be really more respectful of his tremendous legacy!!!
i watched it it was great! clearly this man had a big impact on the world, & clearly he wasnt bad. y would billions of people watch the funeral of a "bad" man? this "bad" man, who gave millions of dollars to charity. & by the way, ohiostatehack, ALL celebrities give payoffs. they dont want their rep to get tarnished.
does being addicted to drugs make you a bad person? did he hurt anyone? he still loved his children & took care of them. clearly the man wasnt a bad person, you nincompoop
I didn't watch. I don't get celebrity worship in death. Reagan and Diana I get because they did a lot of good for the world, and Diana's death was tragic and Reagan's was just very sad. MJ was a self admitted drug addict and there's likelihood that drugs were involved in his death. He hung his child over a balcony which would cause a normal person child endangerment, and he paid a woman $20 million to drop the suit against his molestation of her little boy. The good he did in life does not make up for all the bad.
didn't bother just glad he's in the ground almost
I avoided watching it, how boring!
I am in Australia and watched it from 3 am to 6amand left for work two hours later
You want to know why because it was on 8 STATIONS!!!!!
i saw the end of the tribute online
I only saw what was on the local news