Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral smashes these 10 most watched sports events

According to the Daily Star, the Queen’s death which has been honoured with a Bank Holiday in the UK has attracted an estimated 4.1 billion viewers. The figure presents more than half of the world’s population.

These figures have surpassed the following sports events.

FIFA World Cup

France players celebrate winning the World Cup in 2018. FIFA's plans to stage the tournament every two years look doomed to failure AFP

The FIFA World Cup, held every four years since 1930 is the most viewed single sporting event on earth. FIFA officially confirmed that the 2018 World Cup in Russia was watched by a combined 3.57 billion viewers, equating to more than half of the global population aged four and over.

This was a drastic rise from 700m people who watched the 2010 match between Spain and Netherlands.

The Olympics

TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 23: Fireworks explode during the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on July 23, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Bai Yu/CHINASPORTS/VCG via Getty Images) Pulse Live Kenya

The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 reached a global broadcast audience of more than three billion people, according to independent research conducted on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). A total of 3.05 billion unique viewers tuned in to coverage across linear TV and digital platforms.

The Olympics is a multi-day event showcasing various sporting events. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 is estimated to have drawn nearly 600 million viewers

ICC Cricket World Cup

India's Virat Kohli (L) bats as Pakistan wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed looks on during the ICC Champions trophy match at Edgbaston in Birmingham, central England on June 4, 2017 AFP

The ICC Cricket T20 event recorded the biggest ever cricket tournament to be staged in the UAE and Oman, broke viewership records in several regions, including garnering a record television reach of 167 million viewers.

The Super Bowl

General view of the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium. 3b5d4bd8-5c8c-4dcb-9bfb-e246d9cfb379

The viewing figures for the 2022 Super Bowl averaged 112.3 million viewers. The game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams averaged 99.2 million viewers on NBC and 1.9 million viewers on Spanish language network Telemundo.

Grand Prix

AFP

According to ESPN, through five races, the 2022 F1 season is averaging 1.4 million viewers per race, up 49 percent over the 2021 season average (949,000 viewers) and up 131 percent over the 2020 season average (609,000 viewers).

Tour de France

Tour de France sprinting star Mark "Manx Missile" Cavendish. a8263064-503d-4772-9a02-de070d1f7e94

This sporting event is a three-week bicycle race with an average of 2.6 billion viewers. It also stands out as the most attended annual sporting event in history.

UEFA Champions League

Five times winners Toni Kroos, Casemiro and Luka Modric of Real Madrid pose with the trophy following the 1-0 victory in the UEFA Champions League match at Stade de France, Paris on May 28, 2022 AFP

The Champions League final generally averages around 400 million viewers.

Rugby World Cup

Photo by Reuters Issei Kato

Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan was the most watched rugby event ever with more than 857 million people around the world watching the action via World Rugby's network of rights-holding broadcast partners.

NBA Finals

Golden State Warriors take down Dallas Mavericks to return to NBA Finals Pulse Nigeria

In 2019, the finals averaged 15.14 million viewers. Last year, ABC brought in an average of 12.52 million viewers for the Milwaukee Bucks series clinching, game six win over the Phoenix Suns on 20^th July, a 51 per cent increase on the 2020 decider.

The Winter Olympics

The 2022 Winter Olympics averaged 11.4 million viewers across NBC's networks in prime time, a 42% decrease from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.