When you think about the most watched moments worldwide, sporting events are undoubtedly the most viewed. While events like landing on the moon, royal weddings, and presidential funerals can be watched by millions, these numbers pale compared to the audience sizes that tune in for the world’s biggest sporting events.
To determine the most watched sporting events worldwide, Roadtrips.com compiled data based on TV viewership, including streaming, the most recent event, and viewership duration. With this in mind, we’ll look at these big moments in sports in descending order down to number one to see which sporting event is truly the most viewed in recent history.
Why Is This Important?
When you think about the size of the audiences for some of these events, the marketing and sponsorship volume is enormous, and it speaks directly to brands we regularly cover on 24/7 WallSt. Soccer alone offers some of the biggest brands like Emirates, Qatar Airways, HP, Spotify, and more the chance to have their name on the jerseys of some of the world’s biggest soccer stars.
15. NCAA Final Four
- Total number of viewers: 14.7 million
The best male and female college basketball teams compete in the NCAA Final Four every March. Starting with 64 teams on both sides, the one-and-done basketball tournament has long been an opportunity for underdog teams to make a mark. On the other hand, staple colleges like Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, and UCONN have long dominated the NCAA Final Four.
In 2023, watching the UCONN Huskies defeat the San Diego State Aztecs brought in 14.7 million viewers, enough to rank as the 15th most-watched sporting event. These spectacles of “Cinderella” teams that nobody believed would make it deep into the tournament help increase viewership as those watching from home root for the underdog.
14. World Series
- Total number of viewers: 14.73 million
The most important baseball tournament in the United States, the World Series, is the annual championship series that crowns the year’s best team. Determined by a best-of-seven series, the Commissioner’s Trophy is awarded to the best team played between the top National League and American League teams. Throughout baseball history, the World Series has been played 119 times, with the AL winning 69 times and the NL winning 51 times.
During the Astros’ World Series championship in 2022, the series’ sixth game had 14.73 million viewers, one of the highest numbers the Fall Classic has seen in years. As baseball is part of classic America, something about the World Series feels right to watch.
13. The Masters
- Total number of viewers: 15 million
The Masters golf tournament is widely viewed as the sport’s most prestigious event. In Augusta, Georgia, the world’s best golfers come together to win the famous green jacket. Over four days, players play one round of golf per day, and the winner is the one who turns in the lowest number of shots or strokes over the four-day period.
In 2023, The Masters was viewed by around 15 million viewers, an increase of 19 percent from the year prior. This number of viewers made the 2023 Masters tournament the most-watched golf event over the last five years.
12. Kentucky Derby
- Total number of viewers: 16.6 million
Long known as the fastest “two minutes in sports,” the Kentucky Derby is America’s most prestigious horse race and a see-and-be-seen event with celebrities and famous faces galore. The 2023 Kentucky Derby turned in 16.6 million viewers during its 15 minutes of air on NBC. In addition, over 371,000 viewers captured the race on NBC’s streaming app, Peacock, up 50% from 2022.
While the Kentucky Derby is a whole weekend event, the emphasis is really on the grand finale, which features a 1.25-mile race around the famous Churchill Downs track. Taking place since 1875, the Kentucky Derby is one of the oldest continuous sporting events in the United States.
11. World Cup of Rugby
- Total number of viewers: 17 million
Also known as the Rugby League World Cup, the World Cup of Rugby is the biggest sports event for Rugby fans worldwide. This event is home to 20 of the best international teams, and it is a six-week tournament that leaves the best team standing tall at the end.
During the 2023 World Cup of Rugby tournament, the game’s popularity increased, with 17 million viewers during the France and New Zealand games. With the tournament only being held every four years, all eyes are on 2027 in Australia to see if it can break 2023 records in terms of total viewership.
10. NBA Finals
- Total number of viewers: 17.8 million
When the NBA announced that the 2023 playoffs were the most watched in five years, it begs the question of how many viewers watched and which game was the most popular. The answer is game 5, as 17.8 million people watched the Denver Nuggets capture the title. The series showed that a team nobody thought could win could even make it look easy.
Of course, television wasn’t the only highlight of the NBA Finals, as the conversation around the finals on social media captured more than 8 billion views on the @NBA handle alone across X (formerly known as Twitter). There is no question that the NBA Finals offer great basketball and a sports atmosphere unlike any other.
9. Wimbledon
- Total number of viewers: 25.6 million
Wimbledon is the most prestigious tennis event in the world and the most watched of the four major tennis tournaments, which take place annually. In 2023, Carlos Alcaraz’s final watch had 11.3 million viewers on the BBC alone, while the tournament eclipsed more than 25.6 million viewers.
Whether it’s celebrity spotting or watching some of the most prolific names in the sport compete for the top spot, there is always drama at Wimbledon that makes it impossible to turn it off. With Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in the final match in 2024, it’ll be very interesting to see if 2024 numbers eclipse those of 2023 when the final ratings numbers are released.
8. Super Bowl
- Total number of viewers: 115.1 million
In the United States, no sporting event is more significant than the Super Bowl. It’s not too dramatic to say that the second Sunday of every February should be a national holiday called Super Bowl Day. When you think that the 2023 Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers reached 115.1 million viewers, it quickly became the most-watched single sports event in the country.
In addition to everything else, the Super Bowl is the most expensive piece of marketing real estate for the whole year, as 30-second commercial spots for brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Anheuser-Busch can sell for upwards of $6 million.
7. UEFA Champions League Final
- Total number of viewers: 450 million
The world’s second-most popular soccer tournament, not named the FIFA World Cup, is the UEFA Champions League Final, which drew 450 million viewers in 2023. Watching Manchester City F.C. return to glory as the champions of Europe wasn’t just popular on the big screen, either.
On the little screen, social media content alone accounted for more than 3 billion views and 6.5 billion interactions, which indicates that live interaction with sports is undoubtedly the future. With more than 80 teams competing in total, the level of fandom around this annual event creates significant buzz for the sport of soccer.
6. Winter Games
- Total number of viewers: 2 billion
The Winter Games, or Winter Olympics as they are most commonly known, may not be as popular as the Summer Games, but they match up on total viewership. Figure skating, ice hockey, snowboarding, and alpine skiing undoubtedly help boost overall viewership of the Winter Games and draw almost 2 billion viewers worldwide to watch their country’s best athletes compete.
Unlike the Summer Games, where American athletes typically dominate the medal count, the Winter Games allow countries like Norway, Germany, and Canada, all cold-weather staples, to dominate their respective events. Curling, which has recently become one of the most popular sports during this event, also takes place.
5. Summer Games
- Total number of viewers: 2 billion
It goes without saying that both Olympics were going to appear on any list of the most-watched sporting events. The Summer Games, the fifth most-watched event ever, have a global reach of over 2 billion viewers. With popular sports like swimming, gymnastics, soccer, volleyball, and table tennis grabbing viewers by the truckload, there is no question the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will match these numbers.
Swimming and gymnastics alone account for a big chunk of the viewing as these popular sports have had marquee names like Michael Phelps and Simone Biles raise its profile over the last few Olympic games.
4. Women’s World Cup
- Total number of viewers: 2 billion
The second most-watched soccer event in the world is the Women’s World Cup. Also known as the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the hype around the tournament reached its highest levels ever, with more than 2 billion viewers in 2023. This is a huge leap in viewership over the 2019 tournament, which still saw an impressive 1.12 billion viewers tuning in to watch.
Equally impressive was China versus England, which alone saw 53.9 million people view the match. While the US has traditionally dominated the tournament, the American team exited early, leaving the door open for multiple countries to fight for victory.
3. Cricket World Cup
- Total number of viewers: 2.6 billion
While Cricket is still a mystery to most North Americans, its international popularity cannot be overstated. Like the FIFA World Cup, the Cricket World Cup is the sport’s biggest championship, featuring ten teams playing matches over six weeks. In 2019, the Cricket World Cup, held in England and Wales, was watched by a whopping 2.6 billion people, making it the most-watched cricket event ever.
With New Zealand and England playing in the final match, it was inevitable that two sports-crazed countries would all but stop to watch their national teams fighting for victory.
2. Tour de France
- Total number of viewers: 3.5 billion
The most competitive bicycle race in the world, the Tour de France, is held annually in July. The oldest of the three “Grand Tours,” the Tour de France is widely considered the most prestigious cycling event on the planet. First organized in 1903, the Tour de France was only not held twice when it was stopped for both World Wars.
According to RoadTrips, the total number of views over the past few years totals more than 3.5 billion. A sport made popular in the US due to Lance Armstrong, the international community loves the sport even more, especially given that dominant performances and repeat winners are hard to come by.
1. World Cup of Soccer
- Total number of viewers: 5 billion
There was never any doubt that soccer would be the world’s most-watched sporting event many times over. This event, known as the World Cup of Soccer, also goes by the FIFA World Cup and is the most-watched event. The 2022 FIFA World Cup, which included 32 national teams, was estimated to be viewed by more than 5 billion people worldwide. While this is a huge number, it’s almost more impressive that more than 1.5 billion people viewed the final game between Argentina and France.
As two of the sport’s most popular teams, it was hardly surprising to see these viewing numbers as the world watched Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe face off as France looked to repeat its 2018 victory.
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