List of Most Watched Television Broadcasts - World

World

Worldwide viewership statistics cited in press releases by television networks, FIFA, the NFL and others have been questioned by independent groups and audience figures cited in billions are considered practically unverifiable. FIFA has admitted that numbers have been massively exaggerated in some cases, and simply guessed in others.

Estimates for the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony global TV viewership varied between one and four billion, including an estimated 842 million viewers watching on host Chinese broadcaster China Central Television. A verifiable audience of 984 million tuned in to the opening ceremony at some stage, averaging at 593 million, while 778 million watched the closing ceremony. The 2008 Summer Olympics is the current record holder for a multi-day broadcast. It is estimated by Nielsen Media Research that up to 4.7 billion individual viewers (70% of the world's population) watched some part of the coverage.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup Final was watched by 715 million people, as estimated by FIFA. IPG independent media agency Initiative Worldwide estimated an average of 260 million, with 600 million who tuned for some part of the game. The independent firm Initiative Futures Sport + Entertainment estimate a reach of 638 million and an average of 322 million viewers.

On July 20, 1969, 530 million people watched the first humans ever to walk on the surface of the moon (this constituted around 14% of total population of the world at the time), despite the fact that the first moonwalk took place in the middle of the night in Europe (at 2:56 AM in the United Kingdom and 3:56 AM in France and Germany) and it was not broadcast at all in the Eastern Bloc except Romania

A satellite broadcast for an Elvis Presley show live from Hawaii, titled Aloha from Hawaii on January 14, 1973 is reported to have reached 1 billion viewers globally. Some breakdowns of the figures suggest 40% of the Japanese television audience, and 91.8% of the television audience in the Philippines, with an estimated 51% of the American television audience when it aired later in America on April 4, 1973.

The 2011 Cricket World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan is reported to have been watched by about one billion people by The Guardian, which if accurate would mean it had more than twice as many viewers as the actual final, which was watched by 400 million people based on the available data.

The annual Eurovision Song Contest is reported to have between 100 and 600 million viewers, depending on the source.

Many events in the world have been reported as been watched by large audiences, sometimes by billions - although most of the figures do not have reliable sources, and are given by the promoters of such events to boost viewership, sometimes before the actual airing. The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton was expected to draw a global audience of two billion, but only drew a verified audience of 161 million viewers from 47% of the world population. Other examples are the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales Michael Jackson's memorial service, and the rescue of the 33 trapped Chilean miners in 2010.