How many people watched the World Cup final today? FIFA estimates more than 700 million. According to Graham Dunbar of the AP in Johannesburg, it will most likely break the record for a sporting event in Spain and the Netherlands. An estimated cumulative audience of 26 billion viewers watched the 64 matches at the 2006 tournament, but FIFA is calculating the current tournament by overnight market share reports where possible.
Of course this begs the question of how many people watched online and via mobile phones. I followed many of the games online via ESPN, using their GameCast feature and reading commentary from the "announcers" and selected fans.
It is worth considering whether in the future there could be a similar focus of worldwide viewing. Imagine such an audience for a worldwide set of presentations on global warming. And as soon as I write this, I understand why this seems impossible for a political or economic genre of story, and utterly possible for an unscripted sporting event.
But the concept of a town hall meeting each month on a topic - say, water rights and access - in which people from all over the world have a chance to speak...and to speak not only for humans, but for natural systems upon which we depend for our very survival...well. I'm just saying.
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