Nearly 23 million Americans watched royal wedding

[May 02, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Nearly 23 million Americans rose early on Friday to watch Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot.

The Nielsen Co. said the 22.76 million viewers were spread out over 11 different networks. The company's measurement was for the period of 6 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. EDT, when the ceremony was taking place.

Nielsen did not have an estimate of how many people watched worldwide.

Websites reported high traffic, too. ABCNews.com said it's online traffic Friday was its highest since the 2008 presidential election. And, E! Online said its 23.6 million page views on Friday was its most ever.

The wedding was telecast on ABC, CBS, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, BBC America, CNN, E! Entertainment, Fox News Channel, MSNBC and TLC.

[Associated Press]

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