Beijing Olympic Games 2008 Opening Ceremony is world's most watched TV programme of all time

The world gathers around its TV sets at moments of great history. The first steps of man on the moon, the pulling down of the Berlin Wall and acts of terrorism on September 11th have all attracted huge global audiences. Iconic events that are broadcast live and transcend national boundaries, cultures and languages will always achieve the highest global viewing figures.

While key moments in politics resonate globally, in their nature they tend to be both unpredictable and also inappropriate environments for advertisers. In contrast, major sports events are highly marketed and also brand havens.

For at least six months before the start of the Beijing Olympics, the world's media discussed the Games and a wide range of issues surrounding it. Would some countries boycott the Olympics? Would the Olympic Torch survive its international relay? Would hosting the Olympics lead to political change within its host nation, China?

The combination of political interest, allied with the world's most inclusive and truly global sporting event, meant that the Opening Ceremony achieved the largest TV audience of all time. A global live average audience of 593 million viewers watched. With China, by far the world’s most populous nation, hosting a truly global sporting event for the first time, there was near blanket coverage across dozens of Chinese TV channels. This combination of media saturation and intense national pride led to huge Chinese viewing figures, which were largely responsible for the headline-grabbing global audience performance.


This is the introductory story of the latest ViewerTrack report from futures sport + entertainment. We have just published our sixth annual report on the world’s most watched TV sporting events.


For a full copy, please send an e-mail to:

reports@futuressport.com



Return to previous page