Opening ceremony pulls in more than 2bn

Beijing - Almost one third of the world’s population watched the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, according to data from The Nielsen Company.

Using data collected from 38 countries, the research group estimates that just over 2 billion people, almost one third of the world’s population, watched the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.

The 38 key markets included host nation China, the United States, Brazil, South Africa, Italy and Australia. Viewing level varied across regions and markets, impacted by factors such as time zone and broadcast time differences.

Comparing regions, the Asia-Pacific recorded the highest audience reach where more than five in 10 people watched the opening ceremony, followed by Europe (30%) and North America (24%).

As expected, China pulled the highest concentration of viewers, followed by South Korea, Greece and Australia.

CSM Media Research data showed that more than 842 million Chinese viewers watching TV at home and excluding out-of-home viewing, watched the opening ceremony.