How unlike the BBC Press Office to seek triumphalism through statistics.
The majority of the UK public – 32.5 million – turned to BBC coverage of The State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II
— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) September 20, 2022
A further clarification said they were talking about the UK population aged 4 and over. "32.5 million is equivalent to 52% (the majority) of the UK population aged 4+". That suggests they've lighted upon 62.5m as the UK population over 4 - itself an estimate.
One presumes other parameters are as stated. The coffin was in Westminster Abbey for almost exactly 1 hour 15 minutes - that was the "State Funeral"; the afternoon's event in Windsor was the Committal Service. The average number of viewers for that period on BBC1 was 12.9m; it was, of course, carried on other BBC linear channels, and that average is put by the BBC at 18.5m. To reach 32.5m, the BBC has apparently added up those who 'watched' at least three minutes of the 75 minutes either on a live BBC tv channel or live iPlayer.
Of course, the figure could be a low estimate, if you further add those watching in groups, pubs, cinemas and outdoors. And you might add a few if Charlotte Moore and the BBC Press operation remembered that 'coverage' can include radio. But this tendency to mash up reach, average and peak figures comes at a time when there is supposed to be increased scrutiny of BBC reporting; we await the Thematic Review of BBC reporting on taxation and public spending, by Michael Blastland and Sir Andrew Dilnot, both associated with the start of the excellent Radio 4 programme, More or Less ?
Meanwhile outgoing Media Editor Amol Rajan has been supplied with some 'youth statistics', reported without helpful baselines: "Over nine out of 10 Britons aged 16-34 consumed BBC content in the days after the Queen died. There was an uptick in linear viewing too. Between Thursday 15 September and Sunday 18 September, 46% of 16-34 year-olds watched BBC TV."
The most covered UK queue of all time actually involved 250,000 people. 62,250,000 of the estimated population of the UK over 4 did not attend.
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