Michael Jackson Funeral To Set Online TV Record
Michael Jackson's funeral is predicted to be the biggest event in entertainment history. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to show up around the memorial service in the Staples Center, Los Angeles to pay their respects to the late, great King of Pop. Such a rare and emotional event demonstrates how people have adopted new technologies to bring them closer to a landmark in history.
Online Viewing -
The majority of fans and mourners won't be able to make it to the funeral service in person and will watch a live broadcast of the event. With online video now being incredibly popular many will be using the internet to watch the historic event unfold. In fact this is expected to be a landmark event in online video history. It has been suggested that the online viewing figures worldwide could exceed 200 million.
Currently Obama's Inauguration has the record for attracting the most online viewers so far, but it is very probably that Michael Jackson's funeral will break new records. For Obama's Inauguration online viewing actually exceeded regular TV viewing with Nielson reporting about 40 million viewers, whereas online viewing was estimated by NewTeeVee to be around 70 million.
Blog Activity Around The Web - Source: Nielson Company
Where to Watch Online?
We are told a library of live streams and online video clips is being compiled here (streams going live in time for the event) and will be updated up to and throughout the event. Broadcasters will likely include major news websites including CNN, BBC and ABC, as well as specialized video sites including WebTVHub, LiveStation, Hulu, and uStream.
Cell Phone Viewing -
Internet enabled WiFi cell phones will also be able to view the event online, although it may be trickier given that some phones only work with certain sites. iPhone users will want to consider the iPhone uStream app and some phone users may be restricted to watching pre-recorded clips as they are uploaded to YouTube.
DVR Viewing -
Online viewing will be high largely down to many people being at work during the day when the funeral is broadcasting. This will also mean that a large number of people will be setting their DVR to record the event. At the time of writing the event is scheduled for 10:00 AM PST but it would be worth setting your DVR an hour early as there will likely be a lot going on before the ceremony starts.
