The Beijing Olympics, which ended two weeks ago, attracted about 4.7 billion TV viewers worldwide -- a new record for an Olympics, the market research firm Nielsen said.

The figure, based on data from 37 viewing markets from Aug. 8-24, surpassed the 3.9 billion who watched the 2004 Athens Games and the 3.6 billion of the 2000 Sydney Games, Nielsen said.

About 94 percent of China's 1.3 billion people watched the Games, the same ratio as in the nearby Republic of Korea. Mexico came next, with a viewing ratio of 93 per cent.

In a report on Aug. 14, Nielsen estimated that almost one-third of the world's population, or about 2 billion people, watched the dazzling opening ceremony on Aug. 8, led by film director Zhang Yimou.

Ma Guoli, chief operations officer of Beijing Olympics Dissemination Corporation Ltd., had predicted 4 billion viewers worldwide before the Games actually opened.

However, 4.4 billion had watched televised events in just the first 10 days of the Games, Nielsen said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2008)