Glastonbury streams on iPlayer more than double compared to 2019

The number of streams of the BBC’s Glastonbury coverage on the iPlayer was more than double the equivalent figure for 2019.

The broadcaster said it saw an increase from 15.8 million to 34.1 million streams from when the festival last took place before the pandemic.

There were also around three times as many plays for BBC Sounds – rising from 765,000 to 2.3 million.

The data from the BBC included viewing and listening from June 10 to June 27 and was compared to the same days in 2019.

On TV, Sir Paul McCartney’s Saturday night headline slot on the Pyramid Stage, which was broadcast on BBC One, earned an average audience of 2.7 million and a peak of 3.9 million.

Meanwhile, Diana Ross’ Sunday afternoon tea time legends set, also on BBC One, claimed an average audience of 3.1 million and a peak of 3.8 million.

Lorna Clarke, BBC director of music, said: “The BBC provided the ultimate armchair experience of the world’s best-loved festival this weekend with a dedicated Glastonbury channel on BBC iPlayer, 6 Music’s All Day Glastonbury coverage, performances from the biggest artists on demand on BBC Sounds and over 35 hours of coverage across our TV channels.

“The party isn’t over yet, with over 90 sets and key tracks from the five filmed stages available to watch on BBC iPlayer – including Pyramid Stage performances in Ultra High Definition.”

It comes as the clean-up operation on the Somerset site gets under way to return it from a pop-up city of 200,000 people to a dairy farm.

On Monday, co-organiser Emily Eavis shared a thank you message to attendees and declared the festival had been “surely the best one yet”.