Nielsen: 31.1 Million U.S. Viewers for Jackson Memorial

LOS ANGELES: Live coverage of Michael Jackson’s memorial service in Los Angeles on Tuesday recorded 31.1 million viewers across 18 networks in the U.S., with millions more tuning in online.

Carried live on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Headline News, BET, E!, MTV, VH1, VH1 Classic, TV Guide Network and TV One, the service secured a combined household rating of 20.6 and a 56-percent share, with a total of 23.6 million households watching.

In comparison, Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997 recorded 33.3 million U.S viewers, while President Reagan’s burial in 2004 registered 35.1 million viewers. President Obama’s inauguration this year, meanwhile, tallied 38 million.

The Jackson memorial, like Obama’s inauguration ceremony, was heavily viewed online. Internet traffic at the time worldwide ranged from 19 percent to 33 percent above average, according to Akamai Technologies. There were a reported 9.7 million streams from CNN.com and 5 million from Yahoo News,