Royal wedding boosts ITV ratings by more than two million as audience tunes in for Princess Eugenie's big day
The royal wedding boosted ITV’s ratings as it was watched by three million people, more than trebling the channel’s late-morning time slot.
The Windsor wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank peaked at 3.9 million when it aired on the channel in an extended This Morning special hosted by Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford from 9.25am until 12.30pm, according to overnight ratings.
This was up by more than two million viewers compared to the time slot’s average for 2018 so far of 856,000.
The broadcast had a share of 46%, compared to the year-to-date average share of 19% for the time slot, which airs The Jeremy Kyle Show and This Morning on weekdays.
It was the channel’s biggest audience at that time since the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011.
ITV’s highlights broadcast from the royal wedding, which aired at 8pm, was watched by an average of 3.4 million viewers.
ITV said the three-hour broadcast also helped it to win the slot for the first time since November last year, and that the biggest audience at that time on the channel so far this year was in March during coverage from the Beast from the East cold snap, with 1.5 million viewers.
Overnight figures for ITV include those watching live and also on ITV+1. Consolidated ratings, which include those who have recorded the broadcast or who watch on catch-up services, are revealed after seven days.
Eugenie and Jack may not reach the heights of the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, which was watched by a combined total of 11.5 million people in May – including those viewing up to seven days later.
This was comprised of 8.9 million on BBC One and 2.6 million on ITV overall.
BBC One did not air the wedding of Eugenie and Jack on Friday, although part of it was covered on BBC Two’s Victoria Derbyshire.