The Brit awards 2016 drew a TV audience of nearly 6 million and sparked a Twitter storm during performances by stars including Adele and Rihanna, and a tribute to the late David Bowie.
The annual ITV coverage of the British Phonographic Industry’s awards show was watched by an average audience of 5.8 million, a 27.5% share of all TV viewing between 8pm and 10.20pm on Wednesday night.
The show, which was hosted by Ant and Dec for the second year, matched the popularity of last year’s event, which was notable for Madonna falling down a flight of stairs.
A major promotion of the event by Twitter helped fuel 7.5 million tweets about the show. Adele’s acceptance of the global success award caused the peak rate of tweets, at 55,000 per minute at 9.25pm.
The most-tweeted about individuals were One Direction band members Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne, with Adele third.
Just two years ago, the ceremony sparked more than 4m posts on the social media site.
The Brits narrowly fended off the final of BBC1’s The Great Sport Relief Bake Off, which drew an average of 5.4 million TV viewers and a 24.7% share between 8pm and 9pm, to win its slot.
In 2014, the Brits slumped to 4.6 million viewers, matching the record low set in 2006. It’s biggest recent audience was 7.3 million in 2003 and 6.5 million tuned in 2013.
