Australian commercial networks will follow the decision of UK broadcasters and show the ceremony commercial-free,forgoing potentially lucrative primetime advertising revenues.
The resources devoted to the event are significant. Nine,the publisher of this masthead,has more than 40 staff there,the ABC has 27 employees,and Network 10 sent a team of 17. Seven and Sky News declined to disclose how many staff were sent to cover the event.
Nine director of news Darren Wick said he expected it to be the most-watched event in history,“much bigger” than the audience for Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997. “Technology plays a big part in that,people can watch it on their phones from the North Pole or the South Pole,” he said.
Margaret Simons,honorary principal fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Advancing Journalism,said social media provided an additional layer to the coverage.
“It’s possibly the first time in human history ...[where] you will see a large number of international audiences watching the same event at the same time and either participating or consuming social media alongside that event,” she said.
“Everything has been very British stiff upper lip,and pomp and ceremony,so the one minute where he[King Charles] shows himself human,people want to see that.”
Darren Wick,Nine director of news