Posted: 29th Apr, 2011 By: MarkJ


Today's
Royal Wedding at London's Westminster Abby, between
Prince William and
Catherine Middleton, appears to have had little impact upon the nations broadband internet networks. Most of the ISPs that we've spoken to reported practically "
normal" levels of traffic, while a few others witnessed
only a marginal increase above typical Friday levels.
The outcome is perhaps not surprising because today is also a
national holiday, which means that many office workers were able to stay at home. The event was also widely broadcast over both SD and HD Television channels for free, which
left people with little reason to go online for it.
Nick Thompson, Director of Consumer Services at ISP KC UK, said:
"Our traffic information suggests that TV is still the medium of choice for the majority of consumers. We weren’t surprised to see Web traffic continue as normal during the ceremony as the Royal Wedding is very much a social event, with many people preferring to watch with friends and family at street parties or on television rather than online.
The fact that the wedding took place during a Bank Holiday will have also played a part, as we may have otherwise seen traffic increase if people had to watch from their desks at work. We might see a slight boost over the coming days as people log-on to re-watch or catch-up on the event online through broadcasters’ on-demand services or YouTube."
In other words, despite being
streamed online for the first time ever, the Royal Wedding itself was still very much an offline event.