• by Wayne Friedman , February 1, 2010

Worldwide major TV sports events continue to grow -- despite TV fragmentation in many other programming areas.

In the last five years, for example, the big UEFA Champions League Final has grown by a massive 74% since 2004 -- reaching a worldwide audience of 109 million average viewers and 206 million total viewers for the Barcelona-Manchester United game.

Media agency Initiative's ViewerTrack surveys over 20 big sporting events and notes that the biggest televised events growing the most viewership.

The Super Bowl has also increased audience-setting records in the last couple of years. Last year's Super Bowl XLIII with Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals, earned 106 million average viewers and 162 million total viewers worldwide, now 7% higher than five years ago.

Other events such as Wimbledon have witnessed growth. For example, the men's singles final was up 14% for its average live global audience between 2008 and 2009, climbing to 29 million people. Its total audience -- individual people that viewed any piece of the match -- was 89 million.

Kevin Alavy, director of Initiative, futures sport and entertainment, stated: "Rights holders are becoming more savvy about what they need to do to drive audiences, and the economic conditions are becoming ever more favorable for major sporting events. As the East accounts for some of the largest -- and fastest-growing -- populations in the world, there is huge potential for major sporting events to tap into these increasingly affluent audiences."

Ranking of top ten events, by average audience (millions)