4.7 billion viewers watched Olympics

NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- An estimated 4.7 billion people worldwide watched the Beijing Olympic Games on television, Nielsen Media Research data shows.

Research by the U.S. media group found that the number of viewers during the Aug. 8-24 Games made the sporting event the most-watched Olympic Games in history, The Hollywood Reporter said.

A Nielsen statement said the coverage of the various sporting events in Beijing easily surpassed the 3.9 billion viewers of the 2004 Athens Games and the 3.6 billion 2000 Sydney Games viewers.

The viewing totals indicated that more than two-thirds of the entire global population watched at least a portion of the Beijing Games, the Reporter said.

The country with the largest viewing percentage was China with 94 percent of its large populous viewing the Games, while South Korea and Mexico followed with 94 percent and 93 percent of their populations watching respectively.