Television networks and print and online journalists from Manila to Mexico City are descending on London to cover the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the first of its kind in the age of the Internet and 24-hour news.
Huge sums of money are changing hands for footage of the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, which will be filmed by the BBC, as well as for the best spots to photograph the couple's first kiss on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Meanwhile websites have mobilised as they would for a football World Cup or Olympic Games, with endless videos, quizzes and photo slide shows.
"It's the major media event this year, because it's a happy event," said Max Clifford, Britain's leading public relations consultant. "All we've had so far this year is one tragedy after another, what with wars and earthquakes.
Interest is particularly keen in the United States and Commonwealth countries, although Germany is giving them a run for their money with plans to screen the wedding live in 16 cinemas across the country.
The wedding will also be shown live in Pakistan, where the newspapers have had daily coverage of the build-up, as well as Malaysia and the Philippines, and the FPA has also reported huge interest from China, Mexico and Brazil.
As a result, from Yahoo!'s perspective, it is a combined effort, pooling resources from news, showbiz, features, fashion and sports."
Media organisations will certainly want to spread the huge costs of the operation, and hope the coverage will boost advertising rates and sales.
Photographers' positions outside the palace are selling for £900 ($1,500, 1,000 euros) each, and one broadcasting source said that one minute of footage from the ceremony "will be the most expensive minute we have ever bought.
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