Web coverage is beating the previous record viewing for the Michael Jackson funeral by 21%; Google/YouTube still working on assembling numbers.

The ratings for the British royal wedding are still being tallied but early indications are lots of people were watching on TV and online.

Yahoo! said Friday that its live video stream of the wedding set an all time record for traffic, beating the previous record viewing for the Michael Jackson funeral by 21%.

“Overall traffic is surpassing expectations and we are breaking records in terms of traffic and video consumption,” says a Yahoo spokesperson.

That is particularly impressive since Google and YouTube were the official outlets for the live video stream. A Google/YouTube spokesperson said Friday they were still working on assembling the traffic numbers for their services.


Yahoo! Says the requests per second for the wedding surpassed the previous record set by the Japan earthquake with 40,000 per second at the peak, compared to 33,000 per second for the earthquake.

By 11 a.m. est on Friday Yahoo! Had already sent 14 million clicks to its wedding coverage. The top two stories were “the dress” and “the kiss” which had by that point more than 6 million clicks combined.

Yahoo! Estimates that twice as many women were clicking on its coverage than men.

The results, notes the Yahoo! spokesperson, are “especially impressive given that this event happened during non-peak hours.”

“We anticipate total video audience figures to break all previous records,” added the spokesperson.

TV coverage of the wedding

Even the staid Weather Channel isn't immune from royal wedding fever.

Starting Monday, the latest forecasts and weather from London will be closely tracked. Al Roker will anchor "Wake Up With Al" from London, and The Weather Channel will take viewers on a trip to the royal couple's new home, the North Wales island of Anglesey.

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton takes place Friday at 11 a.m. British Standard Time, which is 6 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Live coverage is as follows:

Kate Middleton is about to become one of the most widely known women of the world, and you’d think it wouldn’t be hard to find a picture of her without makeup. But when that woman is about to become an English princess it all makes a little more sense. But here are a few shots of Kate without makeup.

Prince William has taken Kate Middleton on an emotional visit to his mother’s grave just days ahead of their wedding. 

The pair are believed to have made the journey to the ancestral home of Diana, Princess of Wales, in Althorp, Northants, this month and held hands as they lay flowers in her memory.

The Prince has spoken openly of his desire to share his wedding day with his mother and knows how much it would have meant to her.

A royal source said: “It was very important for William to take Kate to visit his mum just before their wedding day.