Beijing sets world TV record

The opening ceremony at last year's Beijing Olympic Games was the most watched live event in human history, outstripping the moon landings, the funeral of Princess Diana and Barack Obama's inauguration. UK newspaper The Sunday Times revealed that the Beijing extravaganza on 8th August 2008, attracted the worldâs first 'genuine one billion' television audience.

According to global sports research consultancy Futures Sport + Entertainment at least 593 million people around the world, watched the four-hour show in its entirety while 984 million tuned in for part of it.

The aim of the study was to catalogue the most popular sporting events of 2008. The Olympic closing ceremony came second (252 million average global audience/778 million reach), followed by a China v Cuba volleyball game.

The sport is massive in China and that match was the most-watched event by the Chinese population outside the ceremonies. In fourth place was the men's 100 metre final.

Football got its first mention in fifth place, with the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain (166 million average global audience/287 million reach), followed by the 2009 Super Bowl (104 million/152 million) and the 2008 Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea (98 million/208 million).

"Our report takes data from 85% of the worldâs TV households and includes only viewers who watched at home, not in public places", says Kevin Alavy, head of analytics at the global sports research consultancy Futures Sport + Entertainment (FS+E), which compiled the data.

"You can extrapolate from the 984 million that the Olympics opening ceremony was the first one billion people occasion ever. It appealed to the huge domestic Chinese audience but resonated globally too."

The study by FS+E uses only "audited, robust" figures supplied by reputable agencies such as Barb in the UK, Nielsen in the United States and equivalent bodies.

The landmark occasion of the Olympics opening ceremony broke the 1 billion barrier to surpass previous contenders for the all-time slot, including the past two football World Cup finals. A key factor in the record total was Chinaâs population of 1.3 billion, of whom 393 million watched the whole ceremony live on TV, while many more watched some of it.

The event was watched by nearly 8 million people in Australia and 35 million in the USA.

Frequent claims have been made of audiences in the multiple billions for events as varied as sporting finals, funerals of public figures, weddings and political events. In most cases these are unsubstantiated guesses, from broadcasters or rights holders.

Alavy adds "this tends to be marketing based on hyperbole, based on what an audience could be if every single person who has access to an event watches it."

The world has about 6.8 billion people living in 1.9 billion households - with 1.4 billion of those households having a television. Truly global occasions that bring people together are far and few between, and sports events tend to dominate.

If one sport can take a specific message from the report, it is probably F1.

Commenting on F1, the report states "the last few seasons suggest that its audience size has reached a natural peak ...barring a step change in the sport, such as the emergence of a talented young Chinese driver."

For more information go to www.Timesonline.co.uk

8th January 2008 - ONE BILLION AUDIENCE FOR BEIJING 2008