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Live video, updates and other unique content around the wedding of Prince William and Kate (Catherine) Middleton will ensure it becomes the most digital and interactive royal wedding to date.

On 29 April, in addition to dedicated coverage on BBC One from 8am, and ITV1 from 8:30am, broadcast footage of a royal wedding will be available live to stream for the first time on YouTube, running from 10am to 2pm.

The website will host the video on its already established . Coverage will include the couple's journey to and from Westminster Abbey, the wedding service, balcony appearance and the fly past.

Footage will be taken from the BBC without the broadcaster's commentary and will be accompanied by a live multi-media blog by St. James's Palace.

Other social media activity around the event will include the Official Royal Wedding website, the British Monarchy Flickr account, Twitter (@ClarenceHouse), and a .

The Facebook page will be updated hourly on the day and includes a Facebook "event" open to all. Users who click the "I'm attending" button on 'The Royal Wedding' event will become part of a community that is expected to span into the millions across the world.

A 'Stories' app is also expected to launch tomorrow (21 April). It asks people to describe how they are preparing for the event and, on the day itself, how they are celebrating.

The unprecedented media coverage is said to be "in line with the couple's wishes to make the wedding as accessible as possible for as many people as want to participate".

Some analysts expect the traditional TV coverage alone to achieve record highs not seen since the turn of the century.

TNS Omnibus believes 26.2 million people are set to watch the Royal Wedding on traditional TV, which would make it the UK's most watched event of the century.

Unfortunately, the last time TV audiences were that large in the UK was for the combined BBC and ITV coverage of Princess Diana’s funeral on 6 September, 1997, watched by 32 million viewers.

Outside the UK, Germany and the US are expected to follow the event closely, with 44% and 42% of these nations planning to watch at home, according to TNS Omnibus.

TNS Omnibus's Sue Homeyard, who analysed responses to its Royal Wedding study of over 6,600 people, said:  "Major Royal and sporting events, season finales and soap specials are the ones which consistently attract top viewing figures, but even by those standards this looks set to be very special.

"This figure shows what a momentous event this wedding will be for the UK – not to mention food and drink retailers, which will see an average spend of £30 on snacks and drinks for the show."