As athletes continued to break world records in the last days of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Beijing Games’ set a record of its own -- as the most-watched Olympics ever.   

Global television broadcasts during the first ten days of the Games (August 8 - 17) attracted a cumulative TV audience of 4.4 billion viewers -- or almost two-thirds of the world's population, according to Nielsen.

In contrast, the 2004 Athens Summer Games attracted a total of 3.9 billion viewers worldwide, while the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney drew 3.6 billion total viewers.

Nielsen's global audience estimates are based on data collected from 38 markets by Nielsen, AGB Nielsen Media Research, BBM Nielsen Media Research, Finnpanel, IBOPE, TAM India, and OzTAM.

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen's findings by the Xinhua News Agency, the Times of India, and Current.