LONDON, UK, June 30, 2011 -- The BBC today announces that it has achieved record reach for this year's television coverage of Glastonbury.

Having delivered its most comprehensive offering to date, general TV reach (from overnight figures) increased by over three million from last year's 15.4m, to 18.6m viewers (1). In addition to the general TV reach, individual channels also saw a notable rise.

Offering a complete TV experience, the award-winning coverage from six stages, included live headline sets, classic acts, world music, festival highlights and interviews – taking viewers directly into the heart of one of the world's greatest festivals.

BBC Two, presented by Lauren Laverne, Zane Lowe, Mark Radcliffe and Jo Whiley, reached 15.7m viewers, a rise of 3.6m viewers compared to last year. All headline performers enjoyed an average audience of more than 1.5 million viewers, with the biggest peak of 2.6 million viewers for Beyoncé on Sunday, a peak of 2.2 million for Coldplay and a peak of 2.1 million for U2 (2).

BBC Three's coverage was fronted by Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates and its reach was 6.7m viewers compared to 5.6m last year. Mumford and Sons had the biggest performance, with an average audience of 777,000 and a peak of 1.1 million and the second highest average audience was Elbow, with 712,000.

BBC Four, presented by Mark Radcliffe, pulled in 4.3m viewers, up by 1.9m on last year. U2's performance also enjoyed the highest average audience on BBC Four, with 1.2m people and a peak of 1.35 million.

Jan Younghusband, Commissioning Editor, BBC TV Music and Events, says: "It's terrific that the BBC has been able to bring Glastonbury to such a wide audience – with great access across TV, radio and online – taking viewers into the heart of the action of this amazing festival."