Fireworks illuminate over the Japan National Stadium during the closing ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, on Aug. 8, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The television audience for the live broadcast of the Olympic Games closing ceremony peaked at 46.7 percent of viewers in Tokyo and surrounding areas and 41.3 percent in another metropolitan area centering on Osaka in the west, according to a survey released Tuesday.

       The Sunday night broadcast of the closing ceremony by NHK drew the second-highest viewership of the games, behind only the July 23 opening ceremony, according to Video Research Ltd.

       Viewership for the opening ceremony averaged 56.4 percent in the capital and surrounding areas, the highest for the event since the previous Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

       Among competitions held over the last three days of the games, the latter half of the baseball final, in which Japan beat the United States for the gold medal, received the highest average TV audience of 37 percent in Kanto.

       Viewership for the NHK broadcast peaked at 44.2 percent in the top of the ninth inning, when the U.S. team was on offense for the last time.

       The second half of the men's marathon, in which Japan's Suguru Osako finished sixth, drew an audience of 31.4 percent on the NHK broadcast.

       The highest viewing figure during the event for the Sapporo area, where the marathon was held, was 46.5 percent, as Osako made up ground over the final 2 kilometers of the race.

       In the Kansai region centering on Osaka, the average audience for the second half of the baseball final was 38.4 percent and the second half of the men's marathon 25.1 percent.

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