THE FINAL TALLY -- 4.7 BILLION TUNES IN TO BEIJING 2008 –
MORE THAN TWO IN THREE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE: NIELSEN
September 8th, 2008: The 2008 Beijing Olympics set many world records, with the latest being the Most Watched Games
ever. According to latest intelligence from The Nielsen Company[1], the Beijing Olympic Games attracted the cumulative
eyeballs of 4.7 billion viewers over the 17 days from August 8 to August 24, ‘out-viewing’ the 3.9 billion who followed
the Athens 2004 Games by 21 percent, and the 3.6 billion who tuned in to the Sydney Games in 2000[2] by 31 percent, or
1.1 billion additional viewers.
The 4.7 billion viewers who accessed television coverage of the Beijing Olympics officially translates into
approximately 70 percent of the world’s population, or more than two in every three people globally.
As the host nation, China led the world’s viewers with an audience reach of 94 percent along with South Korea, although
by number of individual viewers, China – the world’s most populated nation – far exceeded that of any other country.
Mexico followed closely with a 93 percent audience reach.
With 3.9 million kiwi viewers accessing televised coverage of the 2008 Olympics, New Zealand had an 83 percent audience
reach.[i]
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing information,
media information, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The
Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New
York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com
[1] Estimates are based on data sourced across 37 markets from The Nielsen Company, AGB Nielsen Media Research, BBM
Nielsen Media Research, Finnpanel, IBOPE, TAM India and OzTAM.
[2] Viewing figures for Athens 2004 and Sydney 2000 Games were obtained from
http://en.beijing2008.cn/16/87/article211928716.shtml
[i] Information provided by AGB Nielsen Media Research.
ENDS