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Mumbai, Jan. 17 Initiative, part of the Lintas Media Group, has published its 2007 ViewerTrack global trends report ranking the world’s most watched live TV sports events. The report is prepared by Initiative’s global sports consultancy division — Initiative Sports Futures.

The top 10 events hit parade, drawn from a pre-selected list of 15 events viewed worldwide, are chosen for both their sporting importance and commercial value.

Leading the field is the NFL Super Bowl. Even though more than 90 per cent of its global TV audience comes from one single country — the US — it nevertheless is consistently the world’s most watched TV sporting event in odd-numbered years.

While in even-numbered years it is always beaten in terms of TV audiences by at least one of the FIFA World Cup Final, UEFA European Championships Final or the IOC Summer and Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies. None of the other quadrennial or annual events can compete with the unique appeal of the NFL Super Bowl. An average live global audience of 97 million people watched the Indianapolis Colts defeat the Chicago Bears.

The ICC World Twenty20 Championship Final (India vs Pakistan) features at the 10th place with an average live global audience of 20 million people. Even though 2007 was the inaugural year for this event, it still nevertheless beat the ICC World Cup Final between Australia and Sri Lanka in the TV-viewing stakes. This reflected the unique appeal of the Indian team to cricket fans, and also the success, which Twenty20 cricket has had in attracting fans to the sport.

Ms Lynn de Souza, Director, Media Services, Lintas Media Group, said: “The shorter form of the game telecasted at the prime time enabled office goers to come home and enjoy a night of good fast-paced cricket. This clearly led to a bigger pie for cricket in the global eyeball game!”

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