Elton John pulls record audiences for BBC Glastonbury
June 26, 2023
By Nik Roseveare
A record 21.6 million people, over a third of the UK population, watched the BBC’s Glastonbury TV coverage with over 40 hours of linear programming available to audiences. The audience was up 7 per cent on last year across linear television.
Sir Elton John’s headline set on June 25th on BBC One received the biggest ever overnight audience for a Glastonbury set with a 5 minute peak overnight audience of 7.6 million and average of 7.3 million / 48.9 per cent share. The performance was also aired on BBC Radio 2, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.
Glastonbury 2023 also broke previous digital audience records for viewing and listening on the BBC – with content streamed a record 50.3 million times across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds to date – up 47 per cent on 2022.
On BBC iPlayer, viewers streamed sets and Glastonbury programming from Worthy Farm a record 47.5 million times, up 49 per cent on the year before. And on BBC Sounds, listeners played Glastonbury content 2.8 million times, up 26 per cent on the previous year.
On BBC iPlayer, the Glastonbury live channel proved the most popular – with Sunday, when Sir Elton headlined the Pyramid Stage, topping the charts after it was streamed 4.3 million times. Saturday’s live channel came second, with 3.8 million streams, Friday’s live channel third with 3.2 million streams – and live coverage from the Pyramid and The Other Stage followed with 2.1 million and 1.9 million streams respectively.
In his last ever UK performance, Sir Elton performed a 2 hour set consisting of hits such as I’m Still Standing, Rocket Man, Your Song and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. He was joined by several special guests including The Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers, and Jacob Lusk from Gabriels.
Lorna Clarke, Director of Music said: “This year audiences got to enjoy an unbeatable range of performances from this iconic festival wherever and whenever they wanted to. It’s fantastic that record numbers streamed our content – a whopping 50.3 million times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds – as people got to witness the range and breadth of what took place at Worthy Farm over the weekend. From headliner sets to live shows and specially curated content, our new Glasto-Cam and the BSL stream, we had something for everyone, brilliantly brought to audiences by our skilful teams. Glastonbury on the BBC doesn’t stop when the festival gates close, and viewers can still enjoy BBC iPlayer’s Glastonbury Channel – which continues until Friday 30th June – along with over 90 sets that will be available on demand for the coming weeks.”
June 23rd headliner Artic Monkeys saw a record performance for a Friday night headline set – broadcast on BBC One for the first time – with a 5 min peak audience of 2.6 million and an average of 1.5 million. Audiences for Saturday’s headliner Guns N’ Roses on BBC Two peaked at 2.1 million,with an average audience of 1 million.
Other big draws were Lewis Capaldi and Lizzo who both performed sets on the Pyramid Stage on June 24th with a peak BBC One audience peak of 2.4 million and average 2.3 million viewers.
The coveted Legends slot with Yusuf/Cat Stevens on June 25th reached the biggest BBC Two audience this year with an overnight 5 minute peak audience of 3 million and an average of 2.3 million, and the BBC One show with Rick Astley (with The Blossoms) and Blondie had a 5 minute peak audience of 2.5 million and an average of 2.1 million.
The BBC recently announced a multi-year extension for coverage of the Glastonbury Festival.
Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis has already teased that two female headliners have been booked for the 2024 festival. One is heavily rumoured to be Taylor Swift.