It’s been seven years since the U.S. TV networks went all in for a royal wedding when Prince William married Kate Middleton. Saturday morning, CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC were in rolling coverage of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. (TVNewser)
Four hours of NBC’s Today were anchored by Megyn Kelly, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford and Al Roker. (TVNewser)
Gayle King, anchoring CBS News coverage at Windsor Castle, won her friendly bet with Norah O’Donnell. The bet, which escalated to $1,000 Saturday morning, was over whether Harry would keep his beard, or shave it off. Gayle wagered it would stay. Norah said it would go. O’Donnell will now donate that $1,000 to Ana Grace Project. (TVNewser)
The couple’s stateside audience was a whopping 22.4 million viewers across the six major networks carrying the wedding. Royal ratings are expected to grow even more when Nielsen Media reports cable tallies, but no one will likely approach NBC. The network’s coverage, under the Today umbrella, led with 6.42 million viewers. Another 4.8 million viewers watched on the big three cable news networks. Fox News led with 2 million, followed by CNN with 1.8 million and just under 1 million for MSNBC. (THR)
The wedding became the most-watched television event of the year in the U.K. The BBC’s flagship channel led the way with an average audience of 8.7 million viewers, peaking at 13.1 million during the ceremony. Across all channels, peak viewers landed just below the 18 million mark. (THR)