The world hasn’t gotten over the Royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle yet. One mention of the event and everyone will remember the Royal celebration. Television history records many such mega events highlighted by the Betway online slots that received a worldwide television audience.
#1 Apollo 11 Moon Landing
Date: July 20th, 1969
Worldwide viewers: 650M
The moon landing was a historic event for the entire world. NASA came to the forefront of space technology by sending the first man to the moon. Approximately 652 million global audiences witnessed this revolutionary event.
One-fifth (18 percent) of the worldwide population watched Apollo 11’s live broadcast of the moon landing. Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon at 22:56 New York time.
The event was rather phenomenal as people were watching this event in the middle of the night in European countries, for instance, it was 03:35 AM. in countries like Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Andorra, France, Italy, Germany, etc. In the United Kingdom, people viewed the event at 2:56 AM. Many moon landings took place post-Apollo 11, but there is no witness of such a large global television audience.
#2 LVIS: Aloha from Hawaii
Date: January 14th, 1973
Worldwide viewers: 1 BN
Elvis Presley’s solo performance at the Honolulu International Center in Hawaii was the first to gain live satellite broadcasting. The concert aired for people across Oceania and Asia. Almost 1 billion people (25 percent) of the population worldwide witnessed the event. The show raised funds for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund. Despite a delay in streaming across Europe and the United States. The concert was among the top viewed events.
#3 Rumble In The Jungle
Date: October 30th, 1974
Worldwide viewers: 1 BN
Another event that grabbed the attention of 25 percent of the world population after the Elvis Presley concert was the boxing showdown between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman. The match, held in Kinshasa, went down in history as the ‘greatest sporting event of the 20th century.’
#4 Prince Charles and Diana’s Wedding
Date: July 29th, 1981
Worldwide viewers: 1750 M
The fairytale wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana received a global audience of 750M viewers. The wedding cost around $48 M, wherein $600,000 just covered security costs. The spectacular event was none other than a festival and captivated people across the world with a service involving 3,500 guests and two million people gathered along the route to get a glimpse of the Royal couple. The wedding broadcast took place across 73 countries and parts of the U.K.
#5 Live Aid
Date: July 13th, 1985
Worldwide viewers: 1.9 BN
The top music concert, a fundraising event that gained the attention of a 39 percent global audience from 150 countries. Top names from the music world like David Bowie, The Who, Boomtown Rats, along with Geldof, and others performed at the event. The concert was a fund-raiser event to support victims of the Ethiopian famine. One of the iconic moments of the concert was Freddie Mercury’s comeback performance with Queen bandmates. It was considered one of the most emotional performances in history.
#6 The Wall: Live in Berlin
Date: July 21st, 1990
Worldwide viewers: 1 BN
This was another live concert that gained an 18 percent audience from around the world held in Berlin with 350,000 live audience. It was streamed across 52 countries and involved performers like Roger Waters, Pink Floyd guest artists, Cyndi Lauper, Joni Mitchell, and Bryan Adams. The event was held in commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall just eight months before.
#7 Live 8
Date: July 2nd, 2005
Worldwide viewers: 2 BN
Live 8 was another array of benefit concerts that acquired the attention of 31% of people across the globe. The concerts were held to support the goals of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and the UK's Make Poverty History campaigns.
The concerts aired across 182 television and 2,000 radio networks and involved performances of1000 plus musicians. The concert involved performances of U2, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, and others.
#8 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony
Date: August 8th, 2008
Worldwide viewers: 1.4 BN
The Olympic opening was held at 8 PM on August 8, 2008, signifying the Chinese culture’s auspicious digit 8, associated with confidence and prosperity.
The ceremony took place at the Bird's Nest or the Beijing National Stadium. It featured two parts namely, Brilliant Civilization and Glorious Era.
These events highlighted Chinese civilization and modern China. 91,000 people were present at the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony at the Beijing National Stadium. The four, hour nine minutes event involved 15,000 performers. Along with 21% of the world population watching the ceremony, the event marked the gathering of around 105 state and government heads.
#9 Barack Obama’s Inauguration
Date: January 20th, 2009
Worldwide viewers: 1 BN
The first inauguration of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, held in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. was watched by 14% of people globally. The event garnered the most television views and witnessed the highest internet traffic globally.
#10 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Wedding
Date: May 19th, 2018
Worldwide viewers: 1.9 BN
The Royal wedding of the decade garnered an even higher audience than Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding. With 25 percent of the global population viewing the ceremony held at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, the event also involved more than 600 guests like Oprah Winfrey, David Beckham, and Serena Williams. The event garnered 29.2 M television viewers from the USA.
