Sandy Relief Concert Reaches Over 19 Million Viewers

4.5 million streamed 12-12-12 benefit event from MSG

By Mike Reynolds, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/14/2012 3:29:41 PM

Wednesday night's historic 12-12-12 concert from Madison Square Garden was a big hit with viewers and users across different platforms.

The event, which featured Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Rogers Waters, Alicia Keys, Billy Joel and Paul McCartney, among others, aired on 38 networks, only 15 of which are measured nationally by Nielsen. For those 15, Nielsen reported that 19.3 million viewers watched at least a portion of the concert on television, from 7:30 p.m. to approximately 12 a.m. The average audience viewing the concert at any given moment was 5.2 million viewers.

An additional 698,000 viewers tuned in across the six local networks that carried the event in the New York DMA, where the event delivered a 16.6 household rating, making it the top show on Dec. 12, according to Nielsen data.

Digitally, early estimates indicated the event generated over 4.5 million streams across all platforms, which would make the 12-12-12 concert one of the biggest online events in history.

Socially, the concert generated over 2.5 billion Twitter impressions, and garnered eight of the top 10 trending topics worldwide midway through the event. The 12-12-12 "Be Robin Hood" custom badge campaign was Foursquare's most successful charity campaign to date.

Meanwhile, the concert continues to air, with more than 100 networks, satellite services and cable companies replaying the concert across six continents, with online streaming of the concert continuing to be available.

Proceeds from the event, which the Robin Hood Foundation will distribute to those hardest hit by Sandy, were still being tabulated. That figure is expected to be announced on Monday.