Culture

2 Out of 3 People Worldwide Watched 2008 Beijing Olympics

by Jarrett Martineau | September 5, 2008 at 10:25 am

2641 views | 5 Recommendations | 3 comments

Apparently two-thirds of the global population tuned in to some form of 2008 Beijing Olympic coverage in August.

And Vancouver thinks it's ready for that kind of attention in 2010. You've got to be kidding.

Nielsen Media Research says 4.7 billion viewers globally saw at least some of the 17 days of TV coverage last month. This audience was one-fifth larger than the 3.9 billion who watched the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Host nation China claimed more viewers than any other nation, Nielsen said Friday, logging an audience reach of 94 percent among its population of 1.3 billion.

In the U.S., where NBC and several sister networks aired extensive coverage, the 2008 Olympics took the record as the most-viewed event in American television history.

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JeffHuang

at 16:41 on September 5th, 2008

I agree with zichi. So 4billion people watched the Olympics? I guess it might be possible. Thats some staggering number thats for sure.

Christina 123

at 14:55 on September 9th, 2008

JeffHuang - you old cynic, you!

Christina 123

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:53 on September 9th, 2008

Jarrett Martineau, I like this story. It's good stuff. This is just the type of anorak-wearing, train-spotting useless information one so much enjoys! 86.2% of statistics are made up!