The Gist: Stateside, fans of the royal wedding are younger and plugged in on social media, making the nuptials a prime event to follow live online.  


If you’ve ever come within 10 feet of a tabloid, you’re indeed aware that a royal wedding is on the horizon. Prince Harry’s impending nuptials to Meghan Markle has caught on like wildfire, thanks in part to Markle’s stand-alone celebrity before her engagement to Harry. She’s 2018’s answer to Grace Kelly.

With the wedding set for Saturday, we took a dive into who has been following this modern day fairy tale and who intends to tune in for the early broadcast.

Only 6% in the US are following the news around the wedding very closely. Following gender norms, this group is overwhelmingly female.  

Beyond that, things start to get interesting. While the royal wedding is bound to be traditional, it’s American audience is anything but.

Gen Zers are most likely to be following the wedding very closely. You’ll remember the last royal wedding was in 2011, so it stands to reason this could be the first time this young generation is engaged with the media. They might not have been aware of Kate and William’s wedding. For the rest of us, it feels like we just had a wedding.

While the ceremony will follow tradition, you can bet followers in the States will be meme-ing most of it.

They’re much more likely to be on Twitter, and the royal wedding is certainly something users will live tweet. People are twice as likely to watch the royal wedding live than to watch it recorded later.

What else can we discern about followers of the royal wedding? Maybe it’s that love is in the air, but they’re much more likely to report feeling “happy” today.

And finally, it looks like one unexpected eatery is missing out on a branding opportunity.

It looks like Taco Bell missed the boat on special edition crumpets this weekend.

Best wishes to the happy couple!