BBC unveils expanded Glastonbury coverage
The BBC has unveiled full details of its Glastonbury 2023 coverage, revealing it will present more of the festival than ever before – both live and on-demand.
This year’s Glastonbury runs from 21-25 June, headlined by Elton John, Guns N’ Roses and Arctic Monkeys. Other acts on the line-up include Lana Del Rey, Lizzo, The War On Drugs, Chvrches, Lil Nas X, Christine And The Queens, Manic Street Preachers. and Yusuf/Cat Stevens, who has been booked for the coveted Legends Slot.
Queens of the Stone Age, Rick Astley, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Tom Grennan were among the latest additions to the bill announced this week.
The BBC, which will continue to be Glastonbury’s exclusive, multimedia broadcast partner, following a recent multi-year extension, will present more than 40 hours of programming across its television channels as well as over 85 hours of live broadcasts on the BBC’s pop radio networks. It will launch its 2023 coverage with Lauren Laverne’s 6 Music breakfast show live from the Glastonbury gates from 7.30am to 10.30am on Wednesday 21 June.
“Glastonbury 2023 will have even more live coverage from site, including a record number of hours on BBC One,” says BBC director of music Lorna Clarke. “There will be more programming in the lead up, including an updated version of Glastonbury: 50 Years and Counting and more content to discover on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer. As always, scale and discovery is at the heart of our BBC Glastonbury coverage.
“We’ve worked in partnership with the BBC since 1997, and they’ve become an incredibly valuable part of what we do at Glastonbury”
“This year we’re proud to deliver over 40 hours of coverage across our TV channels to our audiences, as well as over 85 hours of live radio broadcasts, in addition to content on BBC Sounds. We’ll also be increasing the scale and accessibility of our BBC iPlayer offer, with even more themed and live streams.
“For the first time, we will be streaming Pyramid Stage performances live in British Sign Language, making our coverage more accessible than ever before. Our thanks once again go to Emily and Michael Eavis, for allowing us to bring their treasured festival to so many music fans throughout the weekend and beyond.”
New podcasts, collections and playlists will be available on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer will present an expanded, 12-day celebration of the festival, featuring over 40 hours of coverage on BBC iPlayer’s Glastonbury Channel, in addition to streams and classic Glastonbury performances.
“We’ve worked in partnership with the BBC since 1997, and they’ve become an incredibly valuable part of what we do at Glastonbury,” adds festival co-organiser Emily Eavis. “I think we’ve created something really special together and we’re delighted that they’re continuing to evolve their coverage with additions such as streaming Pyramid Stage performances live in British Sign Language. We’re looking forward to welcoming them to the farm in June and here’s to many more Glastonburys together.”
Glastonbury’s long-term future at Worthy Farm was secured earlier this year after it was granted permanent planning permission by the local council.
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10m+ stream BBC Glastonbury 2020 coverage
The BBC’s Glastonbury Experience was a break-out streaming hit, with more than ten million views on the corporation’s on-demand platform, BBC iPlayer, as of Tuesday 30 June.
Running from 10am local time on Thursday 25 June until late on Monday 29 June – commemorating the 50th anniversary of Glastonbury Festival that never was – the Glastonbury Experience aimed to bring the spirit of the legendary festival to viewers at home by broadcasting past performances on iPlayer, television, radio and the BBC Sounds audio streaming service.
In addition to broadcasting sets on TV (BBC Two and BBC Four), including Adele (2016), Beyoncé (2011), Coldplay (2016), Jay-Z (2008) and David Bowie (2000) – the first time Bowie’s performance has ever been broadcast in full – the BBC created a ‘pop-up’ Glastonbury Experience channel on iPlayer. That channel additionally featured shows by the likes of the Killers (2004), Radiohead (1997), Christine and the Queens (2016) and Billie Eilish (2019).
At press time, a BBC Music spokesperson tells IQ, there have been 10.2 million requests for Glastonbury content on iPlayer so far – and with content available for another 30 days, the corporation says it expects that number to grow.
Adele’s set was the most-watched programme on BBC Two, with an audience of 2.1m
Overnight figures for television content, meanwhile, show that Adele’s set was the most-watched programme on BBC Two, with an audience of 2.1m (the biggest for a BBC Two Glastonbury programme since 2017).
Sunday evening’s edition of Glastonbury Backstage Acoustics, with an audience of 261,000, was the BBC Four programme with the highest audience, followed closely by Nile Rodgers and Chic (2017), which had an audience of 258,000. For your background information these initial figures are not consolidated so are only an early indication of the performances of Glastonbury related programming on BBC TV and BBC iPlayer this weekend.
Glastonbury Festival will return on 23–27 June 2021.
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BBC announces Biggest Weekend for Glasto fallow year
On the back of its record-breaking Glastonbury Festival 2017 coverage, BBC Music has announced a one-off four-day event for next summer, filling the gap left by Glastonbury’s fallow year.
The Biggest Weekend will take place in all four UK countries – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – from 25 to 28 May, with more than 175,000 ticket expected to be sold. The BBC’s coverage will be “similar to that offered around Glastonbury”, says the corporation, with concerts broadcast live on radio (Radios 1, 2, 3 and 6 Music) and television (BBC Two and BBC Four), as well as on demand on BBC iPlayer.
No venues or performers have been announced, and a BBC spokesperson tells IQ it has yet to appoint a promoter partner for the events, although the process is “underway”.
BBC has yet to appoint a promoter for the events, although the process is “underway”
Bob Shennan, director of BBC Radio and Music, comment: “BBC Music has a strong history of bringing the nation together for some special moments, and this is the biggest single music event ever attempted by the BBC.
We will be celebrating the diversity of music from four different corners of the country, bringing the best UK music to the world and the best global music to the UK.”
The last time Glastonbury took a year off, in 2012, the BBC staged its Radio 1 Big Weekend festival in Hackney, east London, to coincide with the London Olympics.
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Record audience for BBC Glastonbury coverage
The BBC’s 21st year covering Glastonbury Festival was also most successful, the corporation announced today, with BBC Music’s television and online coverage of the event reaching a record audience of almost 21 million.
A total of 20.9m people watched the BBC’s Glastonbury TV coverage for at least three minutes – a 12% increase on 2016 – with Ed Sheeran’s closing slot on Sunday night achieving a record high for a Glastonbury programme of 2.9m, replacing previous recordholder ELO, who achieved 2.4m last year.
With 4.1m, Sheeran also broke the record one-minute peak audience figure.
Other strong performers included Barry Gibb’s 6pm ‘Legends’ slot, broadcast on BBC Two, which achieved an average audience of 2.48m; Elbow’s surprise performance on Friday evening, which was seen by 784,000 BBC Four viewers; and Friday and Saturday’s headliners, Radiohead and Foo Fighters, who drew in an average of 811,000 and 1.6m, respectively.
“We’re delighted this year’s Glastonbury Festival has been enjoyed by a record number of people”
“We’re delighted that this year’s Glastonbury Festival has been enjoyed by a record number of people,” says the BBC’s director of radio and music, Bob Shennan.
“BBC Music was able to bring audiences such an incredible range of genres, from grime [to] reggae, rock and pop, [and] memorable sets including Ed Sheeran, who made his Glastonbury debut only six years ago on the BBC Music Introducing Stage, and legendary artists Radiohead, Foo Fighters and Barry Gibb – and all under a shining sun, for a change.”
In keeping with its commitment to impartiality, the BBC did not broadcast Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s appearance at the festival, although it has been criticised by some right-wing press, including the Daily Mail, for allegedly disseminating “left-wing propaganda” online and on radio.
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