Based on the viewing figures published by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the International Ski Federation's (FIS) television and marketing rights holder, the top live audience for the Alpine World Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in a single market was Germany, the host nation, which set a new record of 37.5 million live viewers.

More than three million alone watched the live coverage of the opening ceremony on February 7 shown on German ARD channel.

In terms of cumulative audience across all transmission types, Germany amassed almost 320 million viewers during the event which lasted until February 20, a new record, that again underlines the message that Munich 2018 officials have been trying to get across that there are no more passionate winter sports fans in the world than in that country.

The fact that the Championships were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the proposed venue for the snow events if Munich is chosen to host the Olympics and Paralympics ahead of rivals Annecy and Pyeongchang, is a massive bonus for German officials. 

Overall, this year's World Championships were seen by almost 1.2 billion viewers worldwide.

"The figures really are amazing, but if you had been there and felt the buzz and the passion, and heard the capacity crowd cheering for every single athlete, they're not all that surprising," Munich 2018 chair Katarina Witt told insidethegames.

"Winter sports events in Germany just make for great television: we had three World Cups and 12 World Championships in winter sports in Bavaria this season and we had a domestic TV audience of over a billion.

"Fans and athletes all say the atmosphere in Bavaria is something special – that's what makes for a spectacle unlike any other that delivers for broadcasters, audiences and sponsors."

A total of 660 million cumulative viewers watched the Alpine World Ski Championships from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, while the total of live, delayed, news or highlights coverage from the Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo was enjoyed by a record audience of 519 million global viewers.

Besides Oslo 2011 seeing the highest number of cumulative viewers ever recorded for the event, it also posted a new record cumulative broadcast duration with more than 797 hours of coverage of which 67.3 per cent was shown live and 19.3 per cent delayed.


Host nation Norway set a new national record of viewership with almost 65 million cumulative viewers, while Poland with 35 million and Sweden with more than 28 million also set new national records.

In Norway, several of the live event programmes reached market shares of over 85 per cent, led by the men's 30 kilometres pursuit race, won by the home country's Petter Northug (pictured), which recorded 89.8 per cent, or an audience of 1.435 million Norwegians.

For the Alpine Championships in Garmisch, beside Germany, Italy, also set a new national high with more than 160 million cumulative viewers.

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