Campaigners have warned journalists not to repeat the mistake of parroting inflated viewing figures for royal events, saying that research shows as many as 8bn people will NOT be watching.

Republic has previously challenged claims that 2bn people watched the royal wedding in 2011, or the nonsensical suggestion that 5bn people watched the Queen's funeral last year.

The world's population passed 8 billion last year.

Simple analysis from a variety of sources, and a dose of common sense, puts likely global viewing figures at between one hundred and three hundred million. That would mean between 7.7bn and 7.8bn were ignoring the event.

Republic also questions the extent to which people watch the wedding, pointing out that viewers do not necessarily sit down to the watch the whole event, and many may only watch a few minutes.

Speaking for Republic, Graham Smith said today:

"Global viewing figures are always difficult to measure. But to suggest the coronation would attract even half a billion does not stand up to scrutiny."

"All the available evidence suggests that global interest, while high in certain places, is generally far lower than for sporting or other major national events."

"Olympic opening ceremonies and the first inauguration of President Obama are among those events that are likely to have had larger global audiences, with good reason."

"It's really important we get a clear and accurate picture of interest in the monarchy and their set-piece events, as these nonsense figures only mislead the public and distort the debate on the monarchy."

"I'm calling on all journalists to ignore those inflated figures and accept that global viewing figures are hard to calculate, but what evidence there is points to a figure below 300m."

The following reports give a clearer assessment of global TV ratings for major events.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/2-billion-royal-wedding-viewers-really
https://newmatilda.com/2011/05/13/right-royal-overcalculation/
https://www.sportingintelligence.com/2011/05/08/revealed-royal-wedding%E2%80%99s-real-tv-audience-closer-to-300m-than-2bn-because-sport-not-royalty-reigns-080501/