Sevens most popular sport with Kiwi Games viewers

New Zealand's Bryce Heem, left, is stopped by Canada's Harry Jones during the Commonwealth Games. Photo / Getty Images

Rugby sevens is the most popular Commonwealth Games event with Kiwi viewers so far.

On Monday morning, about 87,100 people tuned in to Sky Sport 4 to watch New Zealand's rugby sevens team play South Africa.

On Thursday morning last week, the three-hour opening ceremony was watched by 81,500 people on Prime and a further 92,000 people watched the ceremony's highlights that evening.

Other popular events at the Glasgow games were the women's triathlon, in which Kiwi medal hopeful Andrea Hewitt came fourth, and the marathon, which was viewed by more than 50,000 people.

Viewer numbers for the Games are low compared to major sporting events such as the rugby and football World Cups.

Earlier this month more than 419,000 people watched the Fifa World Cup final between Germany and Argentina.

The data comes from television audience measurement service Nielsen, which measures the viewing habits of 600 New Zealand households encompassing 1450 people.

The Commonwealth Games programme information is for Prime and Sky sport channels 1 to 4, and online ratings information is not included.

Rating the games
92,000 watched the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony highlights
87,100 Rugby 7s NZ v RSA
81,500 opening ceremony
66,700 women's triathlon
51,600 marathon
Other sports events
419,000 people watched Fifa World Cup final
600,000 people watched the 2011 Rugby World Cup final
1,176,100 people watched day 10's America's Cup race last year.
Source: Nielsen.