Was 2008 the best sports year ever? At least in terms of viewer interest, there’s plenty of evidence to support that argument.

Consider these U.S. TV sports highlights from 2008:


The mostwatched global event ever (2008 Beijing Summer Olympics: 4.7 billion viewers)
The mostwatched Super Bowl ever (GiantsPatriots, Super Bowl XLII: 97.5 million viewers)
The mostwatched cable broadcast of all time (CowboysEagles, Monday Night Football: 18.6 million viewers)
The mostwatched cable golf event of all time (Tiger vs. Rocco, U.S. Open Playoff: 4.8 million viewers)
The mostwatched cable baseball game ever (Red SoxRays, ALCS Game 7: 13.4 million viewers)
The mostwatched NBA Finals in five years (CelticsLakers, NBA Championship Series average: 14.9 million viewers)
The mostwatched NHL regular season game in nine years; mostwatched finals in five years (Winter Classic: 2.5 million viewers; Stanley Cup, Penguins–Red Wings average: 4.5 million viewers)
The mostwatched Wimbledon final in eight years (FedererNadal: 5.2 million viewers)
The surge in viewership could be attributed to the dramatic storylines behind these games and events, but Nielsen’s analysis shows that new technology is enhancing the sports fan’s experience:
Ratings for sports events are 20% higher in homes with highdefinition TV sets vs. total U.S.
75 million people visited sports websites in October 2008
11.6 million unique users logged more than 1.2 billion minutes on fantasy sports sites in 2008
10.6 million U.S. mobile subscribers accessed sports content via the mobile Web in August 2008

2008 A Banner Year in Sports?… (http://www.nielsen.com/solutions/YearInSports_2008_MF_rev.pdf) (.pdf file from Nielsen)

No Euro2008 numbers?
I would imagine the final at least got some good numbers.