The UK broadcast industry pulled together in less than a week to provide live coverage of the One Love Manchester gig last night.
The concert, broadcast on BBC One as well as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, was announced on 30th May.
According to overnight viewing figures from overnights.tv, the final three minutes of the concert attracted an audience of 22.6 million viewers on BBC One – making it the most-watched TV event of 2017 to date.
The concert at Manchester’s Old Trafford cricket ground had an average audience of 10.9 million, or 49.3 per cent of the the night’s total TV viewership (69 per cent of viewers aged 16-24).
Among the companies involved in the BBC’s coverage was Arena TV, who provided one of their next generation IP outside broadcast trucks as well as their OB10 truck which was used to cut presentation. The company told TVBEurope it was proud to have played a part in the broadcast: “Arena has been working with BBC Music for a number of years covering large scale music events like Glastonbury. When we first heard about the possibility of covering this for the BBC, we made it clear we would do whatever it took to bring this event to air. This was simply our duty,”said Arena.
“With success an imperative, we deployed roughly 50 per cent more staff than normal as the timescale was very tight and the exact requirements were evolving day-by-day. Our crew worked tirelessly to rig the show in the available time.
“The focus of this event should remain on the victims and families affected by the Manchester tragedy and in this spirit we have donated our profit for this event to the Red Cross – Manchester Emergency Fund.”
