4 million Indians tune in to Jackson's memorial service

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The Hindi news genre, too, saw a 21% rise in its GRPs.

Not only in the US, around four million additional fans of Michael Jackson in India, too, tuned in to see the memorial service of the ‘king of pop’ on Tuesday night, telecast live from Los Angeles.

According to Audience Measurement and Analytics (aMap), the overnight television ratings agency, not only there was a jump of around four million viewers that tuned in to various news channels on July 7 between 10.30 pm and 2 am (July 8) when the memorial service for the pop star was aired from Staples Centre in Los Angeles, but there was a 36 per cent jump in the gross rating points of the English news genre. The Hindi news genre, too, saw a 21 per cent rise in its GRPs due to the higher viewership of Jackson’s memorial service.

Overall, on July 7 the viewership of the English news genre went up from 8.6 million to 11 million while that of the Hindi news genre rose from 15 million to 16 million, the aMap data show.

According to the aMap data, there was a 109 per cent jump in the average ratings of English news channels between 10.30 pm and 2 am on the night of July 7 and 32 per cent jump in the average ratings of the Hindi news channels as more and more people tuned in to watch the live coverage.

Michael Jackson died at the age of 50 on June 25 in Los Angeles due to cardiac arrest.

In the US, CNN got a viewership of around 14 million from the live telecast of Jackson’s memorial service, around 4 million more than the inauguration coverage of President Barack Obama in January, said an international media portal. Most major television networks across the world covered the live including ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, E!, CNN, BBC and Fox News Channel.

According to music critics, Jackson’s 1982 album “Thriller” — which included the blockbuster hits “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” — has been the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.

During the four-hour live coverage, several Hollywood celebrities and Jackson’s family, including his daughter Paris, paid their tributes. This is around 37 per cent higher than the average viewership of the news genre (English and Hindi) on a Tuesday, said aMap.