Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Italy's soccer World Cup final win over France in July was television's most-watched sports event in 2006, drawing more than twice as many viewers as any other program, a report by Initiative Worldwide said.

An average of 260 million people tuned in to see Italy claim its fourth title after winning 5-3 in a penalty shootout. More than 600 million viewers watched some part of the Berlin match.

The final of the quadrennial tournament relegated the Super Bowl to second spot in this year's ratings, though the Pittsburgh Steelers' 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in February drew a global average audience of 98 million, an increase of 5 million on 2005's game.

Initiative, a unit of Interpublic Group, the world's third- largest advertising company, said the top 10 list of viewing figures is derived from 15 pre-selected events chosen for their sporting performance and commercial value.

The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, took third spot with an average of 87 million viewers, edging Barcelona's win over Arsenal in European soccer's elite Champions League final. The season-ending Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix, record seven-time champion Michael Schumacher's last race, completed the top five.

While these events each showed TV audience growth, ``less popular events are not only failing to keep up with them, some are even experiencing viewership decline,'' the report said.

Domination

Nascar's Daytona 500 attracted a 20 million average in sixth spot, ahead of game five of the baseball World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals. The final day of golf's U.S. Masters, Roger Federer's Wimbledon men's tennis final win against Rafael Nadal, and game six in the National Basketball Association's finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks completed the list.

Soccer is increasing its global domination, Initiative said, citing a 14 percent increase in the World Cup's global live audience compared with 2002. This year's event had a cumulative 5.9 billion audience in 54 countries, of which 41 percent were women.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Cone in London at jcone@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 19, 2006 12:15 EST