List of most-watched television broadcasts

On 20 July 1969, an estimated 650 million people watched the live global broadcast of the Apollo 11 Moon landing (this constituted around one fifth of total population of the world at the time),[1][2] despite the fact that the first moonwalk took place in the middle of the night in Europe (at 01:56 in Iceland; 02:56 in Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom; 03:56 in Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Yugoslavia and 04:56 in Finland, Greece and Turkey) and it was not broadcast on television or radio in the Eastern Bloc[3] (except in Romania (04:56)[4] and Poland) (03:56).[5]

The boxer Muhammad Ali drew record global television audiences during the 1970s to early 1980s. Estimates of Ali's worldwide television audiences for his "Rumble in the Jungle" fight against George Foreman in 1974,[6] "Thrilla in Manila" fight against Joe Frazier in 1975,[7] rematch against Leon Spinks in 1978,[8][9] and "Last Hurrah" fight against Larry Holmes in 1980, range between 1 billion and 2 billion people.[10] The 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, where Muhammad Ali lit the torch, was watched by an estimated 3.5 billion viewers.[11] The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 was watched by an estimated 2 billion people globally, making it the all-time most-watched royal event on live television in the world.

The original Live Aid was a dual-venue benefit concert held on 13 July 1985. It became an ongoing music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom (attended by 72,000 people) and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (attended by about 100,000 people).[12] Many similar events happened the same day in other countries, such as the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, Yugoslavia, Austria, Australia and West Germany. It was one of the largest-scale television events of all time, watched across 150 nations, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion who watched the live broadcast.[13]

In 1990, Roger Waters played a concert in Berlin known as The Wall – Live in Berlin to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. The concert was subject to a live audience of 450,000 and was broadcast to 35 countries, with an estimated broadcasting audience of 500 million to 1 billion people.[14][15]

Prominent personalities in the 1990s and 2000s such as David Hasselhoff and Mexico's Thalia (currently based in the U.S.) starred in primetime series such as the Las Tres Marias trilogy shows (Maria Mercedes, Marimar and Maria la del Barrio), Rosalinda and Baywatch, which were broadcast in about 180 countries. It's been expected that, in the 1970's, every single episode of the Mexican comedy show El Chavo del Ocho, created, directed, produced and starred by Roberto Gómez Bolaños "Chespirito", was watched by about 350 millon people across Latin America when it premiered;[16] both this show and some of Mexican telenovelas are among the world's most-watched non-U.S.-produced television series.

U.S. television programming remains one of the most popular forms of entertainment worldwide. This trend was initiated by U.S.-made broadcast network soap operas and sitcoms such as Dallas, M*A*S*H, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, Friends and The Big Bang Theory by the mid-2000s, and then in the late 2000s and 2010s by U.S. medical dramas and police procedurals such as House, and the CSI and NCIS franchises. All of these are currently syndicated in more than 100 countries, and rank among the most-watched television series in the world, extending their dominance to a three-decade span.

In recent decades, the global popularity of U.S. television is rivaled by European television programming and television dramas from Latin America and Asia. The annual Eurovision Song Contest, considered to be one of the world's longest running and most-watched reality television franchises, annually attracts a peak of 600 million viewers. Eurovision has consistently ranked among the all-time most-watched live non-sports entertainment telecasts worldwide in the last 2 decades.[17][18] Idols, airing since 2001, has the largest collective global franchise viewership in the world to date, shown in versions in over 150 countries worldwide and has been watched by over 3.2 billion viewers.[19]

The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony set the record for the largest viewing figure for any sports event, reaching an average daily audience of 593 million worldwide.[20] Over 3.5 billion people saw some part of the 16-day coverage, including the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing-hosted Olympic games.[21] The FIFA World Cup[20][22] has attracted an average of 3.2 billion viewers in 2010 and 2014, making it the most-watched overall live event by average on television worldwide in the 21st century.

In 2010, over 1.1 billion people were reported to have watched the 2010–2011 Sydney New Year's Eve coverage,[23] constituting approximately 16% of the world population at that time and still remains the most-watched New Year's Eve live telecast in the world. As one of the first major New Year's celebrations globally each year, Sydney New Year's Eve annual coverage are live in all time zones in both Asia, Australia and Oceania on 31 December 2010 and 1 January 2011.

Few cable television programs have ranked among the world's most-watched television broadcasts beginning the mid-2010s. In particular, notable scripted series like Game of Thrones, Sherlock and Doctor Who, originating from both the U.S. and UK, have been currently aired to more than 100 countries. The annual Miss Universe and Miss World pageants, headquartered in the U.S. and UK, respectively, and aired live to more than 190 countries yearly, are said to have each regularly attracted more than 500 million viewers and consistently rank among the most-watched live annual entertainment telecasts in the world.[24]

Regional annual sporting events like the Super Bowl in the U.S., and the UEFA Champions League finals in Europe, televised live worldwide, have emerged among the world's most-watched television broadcasts.[25][26]

The 2015 Cricket World Cup is estimated to have been watched by an estimated 2.2 billion people.[27] The most widely watched match during the tournament was India vs. Pakistan, which is estimated to have drawn over 1 billion viewers.[28][29]

Most reality television franchise broadcasts and international sporting events (which are aired in several countries) tend to comprise some of the most-watched television programs, as tallied by their media research bases. Beginning the mid-2010s, the majority of the world's most-watched television broadcasts, including all of the world's major international sporting events, are often broadcast live via satellite across virtually all of the world's time zones in seven continents.[30][31]

The following is David Dale's approximate ranking of the most-watched television shows of all time in Australia using data from Nielsen Corporation and OzTAM.[88]

Note: the funeral of Princess Diana, the Wedding of Prince Charles and the Wedding of Prince William were all carried by all 4 major networks and are counted together.

The following table is a list of the most viewed programs based on the OzTAM 5 City Metro Average rating system.[89][90] It does not include regional numbers (40% of the population) and uses the average viewership, not the peak viewership. Also note these ratings are not comparable with ratings before 2001 due to different methodologies used after this time.

The two most-watched television broadcasts in Canadian history occurred during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. For the gold medal game of the men's hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics, played between the United States and Canada, confirmed 16.6 million Canadians watched the whole game, roughly one-half of the country's entire population.[101] A groundbreaking 26.5 million Canadians watched some part of the game, over 80 percent of the country's 34-million-person population.[102] According to multiple sources, 13.3 million Canadians watched the games' opening ceremony, which was the previous record.[103]

Many believed the final game of the 1972 Summit Series had up to 18 million viewers, but only 4.3 million TVs tuned in. This statistic does not represent the reality that most school children (representing the tail end of the baby-boom i.e. a large population) nationwide watched the game in gymnasiums on only one or two TVs. 10.3 million people watched the ice hockey gold medal final of the 2002 Winter Olympics.[104]

China Central Television's Spring Festival Gala has regularly attracted between 700 million[105] to 1.17 billion viewers annually.[106][107]

The CCTV's main evening news broadcast Xinwen Lianbo has a daily audience of around 135 million people,[108] and it is also one of the most expensive shows in the world per advertising spots, with its 2013 advertising slots selling for a record of 5.4 billion yuan.[108]

Note: The UEFA Euro 2008 final is missing from the list, because the lengthy trophy presentation was included into the official ratings. The game itself was watched by 28.05 million viewers.[109]

India measures the viewership of shows through TRP (Television Rating Point). Shows used to have higher ratings in 2000s as compared to present decade. The present shows that regularly score above or around the 3.5 mark are Kumkum Bhagya, and its spin off Kundali Bhagya along with Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. Sometimes these shows touch 4 which is still quite low as compared to highest rated shows of the last decade. Other than that Naagin (2015 TV series) is the only show now that scores above 4.7. All of these shows are produced by the same banner Balaji Telefilms except Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. Currently, Bigg Boss 13 has been the most watched Show of 2020, recording an 11.3 TRP for the Final and an average of 8.3 TRP on regular episodes,being the most watched reality show in India. Ironically, 2.5-3.5 TRP was considered an average in the 2000s era of classic serials. The most-watched channel for years has been Star Plus , then Zee TV with major competition from Colors. Mahabharat (1988–1990), the television adaptation of Indian epic Mahabharata, had a share of 97.8% among Indian viewers.[110]

Aamir Khan's talk show Satyamev Jayate (2012–2014) drew an estimated audience of 600 million viewers in India.[111] The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 cricket cup was watched by an estimated 730 million viewers in India, with India vs. Pakistan being the most widely watched live event during the tournament.[112] The Doraemon anime series is India's highest-rated children's television show as of 2017, with a total of 478.5 million viewers across Hungama TV and Disney Channel India.[113][114]

A list of most-watched shows in the Republic of Ireland in the 21st century was released in January 2015. The Late Late Toy Show held the top six spots, with the 2014 edition drawing 1,593,000 viewers: over one-third of the country's population. Other high-performing shows were Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, crime drama Love/Hate, Mrs. Brown's Boys, The Sunday Game, UEFA Euro 2012 and the Eurovision Song Contest.[121]

The following list is for Japanese anime only. The list covers broadcasts after 26 September 1977. Video Research had previously recorded an episode of the 1960s Astro Boy anime that earned a 40.3% rating.[122]

A list of most-watched shows in the Mexico, Televisa and TV Azteca broadcasters (Liga MX Apertura and Clausura), Boxing, 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, (FIFA World Cup hosts 1970 & 1986), some concerts like Maná's Unidos por La Paz at Estadio Azteca in March 2001; in 2007, the last episode of La Fea Más Bella", Funeral events like Chespirito at December 2014 the creator of TV Series El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado, and Celebration of Mexican political anniversaries in 2010 celebrate independence from Spain also called Bicentenario 2010, had an average audience of over 40 million views in Mexican Television.

In 2011, the television website Throng published a list of the 12 most-watched television broadcasts in New Zealand from 1995 to 2011. This is based on average viewership of the program, but it does not include broadcasts from before 1995 or after 2011.[125]

The Rugby World Cup has frequently had large audiences – the Rugby World Cup 2011 final, and a semi-final, both had an average audience of over 2 million.

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The following table shows the all-time highest rating television shows in Mega Manila as tallied by AGB Nielsen since 1992. However, ratings are from a single highest recorded episode of the show (in the case of the TV series) and it is not the average over-all ratings for the whole season or series.

List of the 10 most-watched television broadcasts since the beginning of telemetry research in Poland (since 1997) by Nielsen Media Research:[128][129][130][131][132][133][134]

[135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145]

Viewership ratings are provided by two companies in South Korea, AGB Nielsen Media Research and TNmS. Originally Media Service Korea was the only company providing such information, and it was later acquired by Nielsen Media Research. In 1999 TNS Media Korea also began such service, and later changed its name to TNmS. AGB collects viewership data based on 2050 households, while TNmS has 2000 households with measuring devices. Drama ratings usually vary between the two companies by 2–3%.[146]

Statistics from Mediamätning Skandinavien.[147]

Special events attracting large audiences are often carried on more than one channel. The most-watched programme of all time on a single channel is the 1973 wedding ceremony of Princess Anne, shown only on BBC1. The figures in these tables represent the average viewership achieved by each broadcast during its run-time and do not include peak viewership.

• Post-1981 figures verified by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB)
• Pre-1981 figures supplied by the British Film Institute (BFI)

Notes:

• The Wedding of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon (6 May 1960) was watched by an estimated 25 million viewers in Britain.[80]
• At least two Muhammad Ali boxing matches were reported to have been watched by at least 26 million viewers in the United Kingdom: the Fight of the Century (Ali vs. Frazier) was reported to have been watched by 27.5 million British viewers in 1971,[154] and The Rumble in the Jungle (Ali vs. Foreman) was reported to have been watched by 26 million viewers on BBC One in 1974.[155]
• Live Aid is reported to have reached approximately 24.5 million British viewers in July 1985.[156]
• The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton (29 April 2011) received a total audience peak of 26 million viewers, but this is a combined figure aggregated from the ten different channels that broadcast the ceremony. The highest figures of these were 13.59 million on BBC1, with an extra 4.02 million watching on ITV.[157]

The following is a list of most-watched programmes, excluding sporting events and news coverage. The mid-1980s introduction of in-week repeat showings accounts for six of the top ten programmes. On this measure, the 1996 Christmas edition of Only Fools and Horses is the most-watched non-repeated, non-documentary programme of all time in the UK. It is the third most-watched programme of all time on a single channel, after the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony and the wedding of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips in 1973 (see below).

• Post-1981 figures verified by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB)
• Pre-1981 figures supplied by the British Film Institute

*Denotes aggregated figure with repeat showing.

NBC's live telecast of Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 holds the record for the largest average viewership of any live single-network U.S. television broadcast, with 114.4 million viewers.[164] During this broadcast, the halftime show was watched by 118.5 million viewers.[164] The previous live telecast Super Bowl XLV in February 2011 helped Fox become the first television network in the United States to be watched by at least 100 million American viewers by average for a single primetime night of programming.[165] Moreover, Super Bowl telecasts account for 23 of the most-watched television broadcasts based on overall viewership in U.S. television history.[166] Fox's live telecast of Super Bowl LI in 2017 currently holds the largest total viewership in U.S. television history, peaking at 172 million viewers in Super Bowl's first ever overtime play.

Additionally, the National Football League (or NFL) regular season is watched since 2012 by at least 200 million individuals in the United States, accounting for the largest consistent annual nationwide viewership for any television event in U.S. television history (representing almost 70% of the American households, more than 80% of the total U.S. television viewers, and more than half of the 2020 U.S. population of 340 million individuals).

• Mytton, Graham (14 August 2012). "Global Media Research: Can We Know Global Audiences? A View from a BBC Perspective". In Ingrid Volkmer (ed.). The Handbook of Global Media Research. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 40–54. ISBN 9781118255292. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
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