(Image source from: 43 Million Russians watch opening ceremony of Sochi Olympics})

At least 43 million Russians viewed the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics on Friday, when the glittering event unfolded. The global audience of the 2014 Winter Olympics has been reported to be three billion.

The figure given by TNS Russia, the local audience counter, suggest that the viewership for the opening ceremony of Sochi Olympics was higher than the previous three Winter Olympics. During the opening ceremonies of Salt Lake City 2002, 23 million Russians viewed the event, Turin 2006 has 22 million viewers, while viewership of Vancouver 2010 was 10 million.

The opening ceremony was watched live by 63% of the Russian population on February 7 on Channel One and Rossiya 1 or in repeat telecasts. Together the two channels cater to 43 million people, according to TNS Russia.

A press release issued by the Olympic committee suggest that the global audience of the Sochi opening ceremony was three billion.

However, Olympic events at Sochi haven't attracted a huge crowd. At some events, almost one-third of the stalls remain empty and organisers have confirmed that at times Olympic volunteers are asked to fill up the vacant seats.

(Picture Source: farm4.staticflickr.com)

(AW: Pratima Tigga)