The opening ceremony at last year’s Olympic Games in China was the most watched live event in human history, outstripping the moon landings, the funeral of Princess Diana and Barack Obama’s inauguration. The Sunday Times can reveal that the Beijing extravaganza, staged at the Bird’s Nest stadium on August 8, attracted the world’s first “genuine 1 billion” television audience, according to an authoritative report to be released tomorrow.
The report shows at least 593m people around the world, including 5m in Britain, watched the four-hour show in its entirety (the “average” audience), while 984m tuned in for part of it (the total audience or “reach”, which excludes those who watched in public places).
The aim of the study was to catalogue the most popular sporting events of 2008. The Olympic closing ceremony came second (252m average global audience/778m 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 100m final.
Football got its first mention in fifth place, with the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain (166m average global audience/287m reach), followed by the Super Bowl (104m/152m) and the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea (98m/208m).