The report said the actual number of people watching sporting events live is slowly growing, despite audiences for more international events, like the Olympics, fluctuating widely.
Kevin Alavy, head of analytics at Initiative Sports Futures said, however, that only a handful of elite competitions truly attract global audiences. The final match of one of the biggest international sporting events last year, the Rugby World Cup, for example, drew only 33 million viewers globally, according to Initiative.
