31 Million In USA Watch Memorial On TV

According to Nielsen Media Research, nearly 31.1 million people in the USA watched Michael Jackson's memorial service live. An extraordinary number of 19 US networks covered the event, including the major broadcast and cable-news outlets.

Thus, the memorial service was one of the most-watched and most-discussed live news events in history and one of the most-watched live televised farewells for any major public figure.

Some analysts even called it a milestone for media integration as fans gathered around TV sets, computers and smartphones and traded information on Facebook and other social-media services. So the TV numbers reveal only part of the picture because millions more viewed the event online. It caused huge waves of online traffic as many viewers turned to their computers to watch the ceremony. MSNBC.com set a new record for total online video streams (19 million), while the results for CNN (10.5 million) and Fox News (3.4 million) were exceeded only on Inauguration Day last January.

Nielsen said that Michael Jackson’s death and its aftermath had drawn the most online attention in Internet history. The reports of his death on June 25 accounted for 8% of all online conversation, breaking daily records.

Because Michael was loved all over the planet, the memorial also received high ratings in other countries. In Britain for example more than 6.5 million viewers tuned in.

Source: MJFC / E! Online/ LA Times