The TV show with the most viewers ever - a staggering 110 crore - was seen in 142 countries across six continents.
American TV shows have largely dominated the lists of most-watched television programmes across history. The biggest reason for this has been their large reach worldwide and the presence of American pop culture globally. In the last few years, even as Korean content has threatened to change that status quo, US shows rule the roost. In fact, the most-watched TV show ever had over a billion viewers at its peak, a number no show has been able to touch in over three decades.
The world’s most-watched TV show is...
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most widely watched TV show ever is Baywatch, the drama based on the lives of lifeguards on the beaches of Los Angeles. As per the record book’s citation, “At its peak of popularity, Baywatch (NBC, then syndicated, USA) became the most widely viewed TV series in the world ever, with an estimated weekly audience of more than 1.1 billion in 142 countries in 1996.”
The interesting thing about Baywatch is that it was telecast in virtually every corner of the world, having been dubbed in 44 languages. “Covering every continent bar Antarctica, the show has since been seen in 148 countries and translated into 44 languages,” read the Guinness Book citation.
How Baywatch beats Indian epics and global sensations
In India, the most-watched TV shows have been the two mythological epics – Ramayan and Mahabharat (Along with Ramayan’s spinoff Lav Kush). The combined viewership of these three shows has been 16 crore at their respective peaks. This is just one-seventh of what Baywatch achieved and that too only a few years after these shows aired. This shows just how penetrative Baywatch was during its peak.
The modern-day hits also don’t come anywhere close to Baywatch when it comes to viewing figures. Friends, a contemporary show of Baywatch, and a global sensation, has less than half the viewers of Baywatch (excluding reruns). Game of Thrones scores even lower even after accounting for streaming numbers. Squid Game, the Korean sensation that streamed on Netflix, was reported to be watched by 142 million households, which translates to an approximate 40-50 crore people, still a long way from the mark set by Baywatch.
All about Baywatch
Created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J Bonann, Baytwatch focused on both professional and personal challenges faced by lifeguards on Los Angeles. It featured an ensemble cast of Pamela Anderson, Alexandra Paul, Gregory Alan Williams, Jeremy Jackson, Parker Stevenson, David Chokachi, Billy Warlock, Erika Eleniak, David Charvet, Yasmine Bleeth, and Nicole Eggert. Baywatch was a huge success, airing for 11 seasons from 1989-2001, giving birth to a spin-off series Baywatch Nights (1995-97) and a film adaptation also called Baywatch (2017), which starred Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, and Priyanka Chopra.
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