Global television ratings for this year's World Cup in Germany have shot up some 20 percent over viewer ratings for the 2002 games co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.

But the figure is still ten percent lower than that of the 1998 World Cup in France.

New York-based media agency Initiative reported that the ratings that fell four years ago have now risen, predicting that more than five billion viewers worldwide would watch the month-long soccer finals.