BBC Glastonbury 2017 coverage draws record 21MN TV, online audience
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Editor
| 28 June 2017

This year’s edition of the BBC’s landmark outside broadcast event, the Glastonbury festival, has notched up record viewing figures with 20.9 million people watching on TV and online for at least three minutes.

The top-line figure represented a 12% increase on 2016. BBC Two’s Sunday evening programme, which featured Ed Sheeran’s headline set, achieved a record high average audience for a Glasto programme of 2.9 million and a record one minute peak audience of 4.1 million viewers, surpassing the previous record holder Jeff Lynne’s ELO from last year’s festival which saw a 2.4 million average. BBC Two’s 6pm programme with legend Barry Gibb’s storming Sunday teatime legends slot achieved a high average audience of 2.48 million, with the one minute peak of 3.7 million.

BBC Two and BBC Four’s television shows were produced by BBC Studios. Online, fans could access Glastonbury performances on the BBC Glastonbury website and BBC iPlayer with over 100 performances across six stages streamed live. The BBC saw 4.5 million requests for live streams on the iPlayer and traffic on the Glastonbury website throughout the weekend increased by 84% compared with 2016. There were also 3.5 million unique browsers to the BBC's Glastonbury coverage online in the UK, a 23% year-on-year increase.

Looking at other individual highs, BBC Two’s headline sets with Radiohead on Friday and the Foo Fighters on Saturday — both of which delighted hardcore fans but left the not so committed decidedly unimpressed— also performed strongly with average audiences of 811,000 (one minute peak of 1.32 million) and 1.6 million (one minute peak of 2.5 million) respectively, well above their slot averages.

Elbow’s ‘secret’ Friday evening performance gave BBC Four the biggest audience to Glastonbury content on the channel this year with an average audience of 784k/4.1% share and a one minute peak of 1.03 million at 9.56pm. This was both up on timeslot average of 336k/1.4% share, and exceeded the top performing Glastonbury BBC Four programme of 2016 which was ZZ Top/The Lumineers (631k/ 3.4% share). BBC Four achieved its highest ever Glasto reach for coverage with a record 5.7 million viewers watching for three minutes or more, an increase of 8% year-on-year.

Commenting on the event and what it meant for the corporation, BBC radio and music director Bob Shennan said: "We’re delighted that this year’s Glastonbury festival has been enjoyed by a record number of people. BBC Music was able to bring audiences such an incredible range of genres from grime, reggae, rock and pop to memorable sets including Ed Sheeran, who made his Glastonbury debut only six years ago on the BBC Music Introducing Stage, and legendary artists Radiohead, The Foo Fighters and Barry Gibb. And all under a shining sun for a change.”