Queen Elizabeth II’s Funeral
Did four billion people really watch the Queen’s funeral?
It had a stellar cast, went on forever, and even though it lacked drama and snappy dialogue, television events don’t come much bigger than the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Gauging just how big it was, though, isn’t easy, reports Nine Publishing’s Karl Quinn.
In Australia, the TV audience for the broadcast of the funeral on Monday night peaked around 8pm, when 3.46 million metro viewers (in the five mainland capitals) tuned in across six free-to-air networks (Seven, Nine, 10 Bold, SBS, ABC and ABC News).
The total audience for free-to-air TV at that time was 4.6 million viewers – which was up about one-third compared to the same day a week earlier. That meant almost three-quarters of people who were watching free-to-air TV in the five big cities on Monday night were watching the Queen’s funeral.
In addition, regional viewing peaked at around 1.527 million viewers. On pay TV, Sky attracted a peak audience of 188,000 for its coverage. All up, that suggests an audience at the 8pm peak of 5.17 million viewers. And given Australia’s population is about 26 million, that means about one in five of us tuned in via the TV at that time.
However, TV ratings are usually reported on averages rather than peaks, and on that measure the figures were not quite so regal.
More than 29m people in UK watched Queen’s funeral
The Queen’s funeral service in Westminster Abbey was watched by 29.2 million people on television in the UK, according to official audience data, report The Guardian’s Jim Waterson and Tobi Thomas.
Despite the enormous interest, the commemoration of Queen Elizabeth II did not meet predictions of becoming the most-watched broadcast in British television history. Less than half the UK population watched the live television broadcast – fewer than the 31 million who watched the climax of England’s Euro 2020 final defeat against Italy.
BBC One’s coverage of Monday’s commemoration events peaked at 19.5 million viewers, BBC Two hit 2 million for its sign language coverage, ITV hit 5.3 million viewers, and Sky News attracted a maximum of 934,000 people. All the channels were offering the same core footage but with different experts and presenters.
The service was also simulcast on dozens of other television channels, which created some unusual juxtapositions. About 170,000 people paid their respects to the Queen by watching her funeral on Sky Sports Main Event – usually the home of live Premier League football.
Nine anchor’s excuse for Queen’s funeral gaffe
News anchor Peter Overton has hit back over an awkward mistake during Nine’s live coverage of the Queen’s funeral last night that gained worldwide attention, reports news.com.au.
Nine on-air personalities Overton and Tracy Grimshaw were both unable to recognise the UK’s new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, as she emerged from a car to attend the funeral.
Speaking to Chris O’Keefe live on 2GB, Overton addressed the moment.
“What happened when Liz Truss got out of the car?” O’Keefe asked Overton on radio Tuesday afternoon.
“I’ve upset a couple of my Pommy cousins,” Overton joked.
“We were told there was another motorcade arriving, and lost our monitor with the broadcast feed.”
He explained the duo were situated on media platforms without about 20-30 other international journalists, about 50 metres from the arrivals happening at Westminster Abbey.
“With our monitor frozen, we turned around and tried to see who was getting out of the car. We kept looking back to the monitor and couldn’t see,” he said.
“It is very hard to recognise someone from the back of their hat, from 50 metres.”
British TV hosts address claims they skipped queue to see Queen lying in state
British morning TV hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have addressed accusations they jumped the queue to see the Queen lying in state, reports News Corp’s Mary Gallagher.
The presenting duo said they “understood” why they received backlash after they used media passes to access Westminster Hall, while other celebrities queued for hours with members of the public.
Tuesday’s This Morning TV show opened with a montage of emotional moments since the Queen’s death, which included a clip from inside the hall, The Sun reported.
Holly, 42, told viewers as the footage aired: “Like hundreds of accredited broadcasters and journalists we were given official permission to access the hall. It was strictly for the purpose of reporting on the event for millions of people in the UK who haven’t been able to visit Westminster in person.”
Business of Media
Thomas Markle at centre of defamation suit involving Channel Seven, paparazzi photographer
The estranged father of Meghan Markle is at the centre of a legal battle between Channel Seven and a US-based paparazzi photographer, reports News Corp’s Liam Mendes.
Jeff Rayner, the photographer who famously collaborated with Thomas Markle Snr, resulting in the total breakdown of the relationship with his daughter Meghan, is suing the network for defamation.
Rayner, who took set-up pictures of the former Hollywood lighting director just before Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry, is suing Seven in the Federal Court of Australia.
The legal action comes after the network aired a live interview with Mr Markle in September last year, where he allegedly made defamatory claims about Rayner on Seven’s flagship Sunrise breakfast program.
Ministers to review Channel 4 privatisation and scrapping of BBC licence fee
Ministers are reviewing the decisions to privatise Channel 4 and to scrap the BBC licence fee, the new culture secretary has said, saying she is “re-examining the business case,” reports The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot.
Michelle Donelan said that as culture secretary she would look at the BBC licence fee “in the round” but declined to say whether it could be scrapped. Donelan also said she was revisiting the online harms bill and the provisions around “legal but harmful” speech.
All of those policies were major announcements under her predecessor, Nadine Dorries, who declined an offer to serve as culture secretary under Liz Truss.
Spotify offers audiobook service with 300,000 titles
Spotify Technology SA said it will offer audiobooks starting Tuesday as the streaming giant aims to expand beyond music and podcasts, report The Wall Street Journal’s Anne Steele and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg.
Spotify users will be able to purchase and listen to a catalog of more than 300,000 audiobooks from independent authors and major publishers, including titles by horror writer Stephen King, journalist Malcolm Gladwell and romance novelist Abby Jimenez.
The books will be available on a pay-per-download basis, similar to existing audiobook services such as those offered by Apple Inc.and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. While Spotify is known for its user-specific music recommendations—and is working on building that out for podcasts as well—it will make editorially curated recommendations for audiobooks to start. The company said it will work to add algorithmic recommendations, based on the full scope of a user’s listening habits, over time.
Agencies
Indago Digital welcomes three new client wins to its roster
Indago Digital has welcomed three new client wins to the independent media agency.
The clients are profit-for-purpose travel park organisation Reflections Holiday Parks; Australia’s largest medical and homecare equipment supplier, Independent Living Specialists; and flexhive by Hudson, an on-demand tech platform that matches pre-qualified ready-to-work talent pools with flexible jobs.
The agency noted that they are reaping the benefits of its commitment to relationship building in an industry where responding to requests for proposals is becoming an inefficient way to secure new business.
The 2021 OUCH Survey! found that the average agency invested $115,000 in unbilled pitch hours before winning any new business.
Steve Wren promoted to business director at The Edison Agency
Design and brand strategy agency The Edison Agency has announced the internal promotion of Steve Wren from group account director to the newly created role of business director.
On the new position, Wren said: “It’s been a great and exciting learning curve coming from the world of advertising and media to a more single-minded brand strategy role – and the amazing work and client retention the team have delivered across blue chip FMCG and indie startups alike is testament to our ‘Design for Good’ approach.”
“This role is reflective of the business’s ambition to push forward with new client-led solutions, and truly integrate The Edison Agency as the expert branding extension to the client/management teams.”
TotallyAwesome welcomes Tom Simpson as non-executive chair
TotallyAwesome has appointed of Tom Simpson as non-executive chair of the digital advertising network for kids, teens, and families.
Simpson, who will be based in Singapore, will work closely with TotallyAwesome’s leadership team as the company scales its marketplace and builds the industry’s first YouthSafe Desk and YouthSafe Tag certification products to offer marketers ultimate brand safety online.
Will Anstee, TotallyAwesome CEO, said: “Surveillance advertising has become normalised by the big tech platforms, but it can be extremely damaging for young lives.
“TotallyAwesome is in a unique position to provide our partners with the tools and technology to create a truly youth-safe advertising ecosystem, and Tom will be an integral part of our progress towards delivering on our promises.”
Rvyalmedia wins Click Frenzy’s full media account
Rvyalmedia has announced it has won the full media account of cyber-sale giant Click Frenzy, following a competitive agency review.
Click Frenzy was launched in 2012 by Global Marketplace and has 1.7 million members and growing. The platform stimulates e-Commerce activity in Australia for its retailer partners through its annual industry-wide online mega sales events.
The partnership with Rvyalmedia will begin imminently to plan and execute the first campaign together, The Main Event, in November.
The event is Click Frenzy’s biggest online activation for the year, with over 500 Australian and global brands offering discounts during the promotional period.
Managing director Joseph Pardillo said: “It’s such a special opportunity for us to be working closely with a revolutionary digital business like Click Frenzy, and we’re very grateful for the chance to be partnering with Mark and the team, bringing unrivalled and exclusive retail offers to millions of Australians.
“Their entrepreneurial spirit as a business is infectious and we can’t wait to build exciting campaign events with them that is deserving of their amazing retail sales offers,” he added.
Podcasts
Adnan Syed, freed
Millions of Americans know about the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee because of the podcast Serial. Over 12 episodes in 2014, Serial documented the killing of Lee, a high school student near Baltimore, and the conviction of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, reports The New York Times’ David Leonhardt.
On the podcast, a team of journalists led by Sarah Koenig, the host of Serial, documented major problems with the case against Syed: The prosecution’s timeline was implausible; Syed’s defense lawyer failed to pursue important leads; and the cellphone records supposedly tracking Syed’s location were questionable. The resulting attention led courts to take another look at the case, but not to free Syed.
Yesterday, however, a judge freed him after he had spent 23 years behind bars. The judge, Melissa Phinn, overturned his conviction after Baltimore prosecutors had said last week that they no longer had confidence in it. “
David: Sarah, you’ve been following this case for almost a decade now, and Adnan Syed has been in jail for more than two decades. What was it like to hear last week that the prosecutors wanted him released?
Sarah: I was shocked. I did not see this coming at all. One of the first things I did was call Adnan’s brother and then his mother — they told me they didn’t know either. The prosecutors who filed the motion to release him kept it pretty tight, it seems.