World Cup Final Tops Ranking Of Most-Watched Global Events

FIFA World Cup Final Most-Watched Live Sporting Event Globally In ‘06

The France-Italy FIFA World Cup final was last year’s most-watched live, global TV sports event, according to Initiative’s ’06 ViewerTrack ranking. Despite increasing year-to-year average live viewership from 93 million to 98 million, the Super Bowl relinquished its No. 1 ranking from the ’05 study. The Opening Ceremony of the Turin Olympics, which finished third, actually drew a larger total audience than the Super Bowl (249 million vs. 151 million). The top ten were drawn from a list of 15 events viewed worldwide and selected for their sporting importance and commercial value. The study says while each of the top five events show signs of TV audience growth, less popular events are “not only failing to keep up with them, some are even experiencing viewership decline” (Initiative). The FINANCIAL TIMES’ Carlos Grande noted a “large audience is not necessarily a global one: 90% of Super Bowl viewers were from the U.S.” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 1/8).

RK	EVENT	AVERAGE AUDIENCE (M)	TOTAL AUDIENCE (M)
1)	FIFA World Cup Final (France-Italy)	260	603
2)	Super Bowl (Seahawks-Steelers)	98	151
3)	Turin Games Opening Ceremony	87	249
4)	UEFA Champions League Final (Barcelona-Arsenal)	86	209
5)	Brazilian Grand Prix	83	154
6)	Daytona 500	20	47
7)	World Series Game Five (Tigers-Cardinals)	19	55
8)	The Masters (final round)	17	59
9)	Wimbledon (men's final - Federer-Nadal)	17	69
10)	NBA Finals Game Six (Heat-Mavericks)	17	48