FIFA have said more than 3.5 billion people – more than half of the global population aged four and — watched some of the 2018 World Cup, with 1.12bn watching at least one minute of France beating Croatia 4-2 in the final.
A FIFA-commissioned review of World Cup viewing said the final’s television audience was 516.6 million by the traditional measure of “global average in-home audience,” while 309.7m more watched on digital devices and out-of-home screenings in public spaces, bars and restaurants.
The global TV audience for the 64-game tournament in Russia averaged 191m per game — up from 187m for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
FIFA said “each game was a global televisual event in its own right.”
Research suggested most viewers also watched for longer than they did four years earlier.
The World Cup coverage reached around 1.6bn people in Asia, with 655.7m viewers in China, who failed to qualify for the tournament.