‘Old Media’ and the Royal Wedding

Jim Marshall wonders why Will & Kate’s big day wasn’t a major digital event… Did the Royals miss a trick? What about a ‘My big fat Royal Wedding’ Facebook page or royal twittering – wouldn’t it be fascinating if the Duke of Edinburgh had tweeted ‘That Pippa is a lovely young filly and a great mover’…

The last few weeks have left me a bit nostalgic and, I’m afraid, a bit disappointed.

Nostalgic because we have had a lot of 3/4 day weeks and the media world seems to have been very quiet, apart from gearing up for the Royal Wedding. So plenty of socialising and celebrating, but a lot less work, which feels reminiscent of the old days when no-one seemed to work as hard as these days. Or, as I think Michael Grade once quipped, ‘the ITV Sales Directors used to hate Wednesdays because they ruined both weekends’.

Disappointed because Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding was the first ever major ‘Digital Royal Event’, but it didn’t feel like digital played a particularly large part in the coverage. In fact ‘old TV’ scooped all the plaudits with an audience of some 26 million in the UK, of which the BBC enjoyed the lion’s share with over two thirds of the viewing audience. So a not that dissimilar situation to Charles and Di’s wedding in 1981 or indeed the Coronation in 1953, which was described as ‘ushering in the TV age’, when over 20 million watched the new Queen crowned in their front rooms, and exclusively then on the BBC.

Also for William and Kate’s wedding the resurgent London Evening Standard even got in on the act by successfully printing and distributing over 400,000 copies on a public holiday for the first time in over 30 years. And all the national newspapers led with the story and pictures of the wedding the following day.

In fairness, the Palace did try to suggest a more modern approach with coverage on the Royal Channel shown on Youtube, the @ClarenceHouse and @BritishMonarchy Twitter accounts and the obligatory Facebook page, snappily titled ‘British Monarchy Facebook Page’. But it was all a bit dreary, low key and tame in my view.

So what was I really expecting?

Well I’m not sure what I was expecting but I was hoping for the digital media to add a bit of excitement and a more personal touch to the event. Maybe a Kate Facebook Page, entitled ‘My big fat Royal Wedding’, maybe some slightly risqué pictures and stories about William’s stag night on Prince Harry’s wall or maybe an opportunity for the public to influence the wedding on the British Monarchy page – for example what was worn, food served, music played or even people invited (not inviting Blair and Brown would have been far less contentious if the public had voted against them, as they undoubtedly would)?

And what about video streaming special pictures of the event on a private internet site and available only to Britain’s ‘most loyal’ e.g. from Knights of the Realm to minor dignitaries? (Can you imagine the pride of the Mayor’s wife, who had her own private viewing while her friends were stuck with the BBC’s, ITV’s or Sky’s coverage?)

And of course there was the opportunity for Royal Twittering. I feel it was a great missed opportunity not to get some of the ‘other’ royal attendees to produce personal tweets throughout the day. For example, wouldn’t it have been fascinating if the Duke of Edinburgh had tweeted his personal observations – his view of visiting diplomats and their wives, the behaviour of the other guests, the speeches and the reception in the evening? He might have commented: “That Pippa Middleton is a lovely young filly and a great mover. I’d be the first dancing with her if I was a few years younger.”

And some wag could have tweeted back: “Wrong verb your Royal Highness”.

Anyway none of this did or probably could have happened, but the old media – the TV in the front room and newspaper coverage/pictures – proved that they still have huge power and resonance when it comes to events that are of universal public interest. And yes there were a huge number of Facebook mentions (over one million) on the Royal Wedding during the day of the event. So the internet did play its part in generating and maintaining public interest, but only in support of the main traditional media coverage.

I think it may be some time before a Royal or even major public event will be billed as ‘ushering in the digital age’.