Zee News

New York, Jul 10: Nineteen million people tuned in to watch the Live Earth concerts on NBC and cable channels affiliated with the network, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The total audience of 18.995 million includes viewers who watched at least six minutes of the telecasts on NBC, CNBC, Telemundo, the Sundance Channel, Bravo, MSNBC and Universal HD.

NBC's Saturday-evening telecast — which featured three hours of highlights from the 24-hour global concert series to raise awareness of climate change — captured 2.7 million viewers. The event was also broadcast online at LiveEarth.MSN.com and on XM satellite radio.

Organizers for Live Earth, backed by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, were hoping live broadcasts on cable television and the Internet would reach up to 2 billion people. Concerts were held in London; Sydney, Australia; Tokyo; Shanghai, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; Hamburg, Germany; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and New Jersey and Washington.

Live Earth will send proceeds to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit organization chaired by Gore. Figures for the money raised will be available later in the week.