Alongside the likes of Live 8 and the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, sporting events tend to have the most appeal for global audiences. They cross cultures, language and national boundaries in a way that few other events can.
Football is the world's most popular sport and the FIFA World Cup is the premiere event of all football tournaments. Given that, it comes as little surprise that the 2006 World Cup Final is set to enjoy one of the highest ever global in-home TV audiences as people tune in to see if Zinedine Zidane's glittering career ends in one final triumph.
These huge audience figures are even higher than they were in 2002. Live viewing for the 2006 World Cup to date has enjoyed a massive boost compared with four years ago, due to the effect of time zones. Audiences in key football markets in Europe and South America have been able to enjoy the live action in the afternoon and evenings in 2006, compared with in the early hours of the morning in 2002.
Encouragingly for FIFA, audience growth in 2006 compared with 2002 has accelerated as the tournament has progressed. With a 2000 Central European Time kick-off time on Sunday, broadcasters, advertisers and sponsors will benefit from the final being played at the time of day and day of week when audiences across Europe are at their highest. This compares with the less convenient scheduling of the 2002 World Cup when the match started much earlier in the day, at 1300 CET.
The global audience for the 2006 World Cup Final might have been even higher had Brazil made it to a record fourth consecutive final. Brazilians are among the most passionate football fans in the world and have some of the highest TV audiences for the World Cup of any country.
The Brazilian team is also an attractive proposition around the globe, with football fans keen to watch their creative, attacking style of play, and star players such as Ronaldinho in action. At both World Cup 1998 and World Cup 2002, Brazil was the most watched team globally.
However, France and Italy are also box-office favorites and the match is expected to draw large audiences globally. Football fans have waited four years for two heavyweight teams to compete in the final of one of the two major international football tournaments.
The last final of the other major international tournament, the European Football Championships in 2004, was between Greece and Portugal. This was a much less attractive fixture for neutral fans.
There is huge rivalry between the French and Italian teams, developed over a number of tightly contested matches in the past. The fixture is a repeat of the Euro 2000 final when France beat Italy with a golden goal in extra time. The last time the two sides met in the World Cup was in 1998 when France again beat Italy, that time in the quarter-finals on penalties.
The 2006 World Cup Final is also set to attract the highest ever female audience share for a football match. In the 2002 World Cup, the highest female share of viewing was seen in the fnal, when 44 per cent of the global audience was female. With female audiences for the football growing faster than among men, Initiative predicts the female share of viewing for the 2006 final will be even higher on Sunday - in excess of 45 per cent of the global audience.
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