According to the Yutang Sports 2018 CCTV5 Annual Report, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia dominated the annual top 10 most-watched sports broadcasts on CCTV5. 

The No. 1 match was the World Cup Final between Croatia and France. The average TV rating for the match was 7.17. It was followed by the Round of 16 knock-out game between France and Argentina, and the Argentina vs Iceland in the opening game of Group D. 

All 10 matches had an average TV rating of over 5, which is very high compared to other sports broadcasts on CCTV5. 

Overall, the FIFA World Cup also created the highest average monthly TV ratings in 2018, making June the month with the highest all-day and evening average TV ratings over the twelve months. 

The other sports events that raised the monthly TV ratings on CCTV5 were the 2018  Pyeongchang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2018 ITTF World Championships, the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship. 

As a result of many major sports events in 2018, CCTV5 annual TV ratings increased significantly compared with 2017, with all-day average annual ratings increasing by 35% and evening rating increasing by 46.34%. 

Reference: Yutang Sports

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick