New markets push World Cup to the top of television ratings

Nver has the domination of football as the world’s most popular sport been better demonstrated than by the global television viewing figures for 2006.
Not only were the ratings for the World Cup final between Italy and France far higher than for any other competition, but the average audiences for 32 of the 64 matches in Germany were better than the Super Bowl, the next most popular event.
Kevin Alavy, its head of analytics, said: “Football has traditionally been the most popular sport in Europe, South America and Africa but over the last decade it has shown its strongest growth in North America and Asia/Pacific.

“One of the most notable features of the global audience for the 2006 Fifa World Cup was that more women than ever before watched the tournament. Women accounted for 41 per cent of the global audience for the event.”