BBC forced to repay foreign advertisers following online Royal Wedding coverage crash
The BBC has repaid thousands of pounds to foreign advertisers after its online streaming of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton crashed as the bride was about to walk down the aisle.
As a result of the crash, the BBC was forced to repay foreign companies advertising around its online coverage outside of the UK.
Coverage of the Royal Wedding garnered a record worldwide audience online, but the BBC saw its own coverage through its website go down for some time, although the corporation's feed to YouTube was sustained.
At the time, the BBC cited ‘technical difficulties’ for the problem as a result of the volume of web traffic it was receiving at the time.
A BBC Spokesperson said: “We would always repay an advertiser if we under delivered against agreed levels (that is the nature of media trading), either in other parts of their campaign or pro rata. We absolutely pride ourselves at offering a first class multi-platform opportunity and experience for our clients across the BBC's commercial platforms.”
The spokesperson added: “We wouldn't ever comment on specific instances, which would mean breaking confidentiality agreements with our clients but rest assured normal trading practices have prevailed in this instance in keeping with client expectations.”
Around 70 million people are thought to have tuned into watch the event live at the end of April.