Manchester United’s victory over Chelsea on Wednesday evening was watched by nearly 17 million on ITV and Sky combined, making it easily the most popular event on television this year.

A total of 14.6 million watched John Terry and Nicolas Anelka miss their penalties on ITV1 and a further two million saw the match on Sky, although neither figure includes the millions who packed into pubs and bars to watch the first all-English final.

The leading football finals are comfortably the most watched events on television every year, attracting well in excess of ten million viewers when an English team are playing, and they generate lucrative advertising for brands chasing elusive male viewers.

Britain is the most important football market in Europe — a shade more than 100 million people worldwide are expected to have tuned into the event, which rivals American football’s Super Bowl — watched this year by 93 million — in terms of its economic significance.

ITV alone made about £10 million from advertising during the match, with £1 million coming because the match went into extra time, four times the sum it would take in a normal evening. Ford used the match as a chance to launch a new car, the four-wheel Kuga, across Europe.

Global figures have yet to be compiled for the tie, but last year 118 million tuned in to watch Liverpool lose to AC Milan in a less dramatic match that attracted a peak audience of 10.3 million on ITV1.

The importance of football to broadcasters was underlined by ITV’s ruthless decision to ditch Formula One, which will transfer to the BBC next season, so it could afford to retain some Champions League rights from September 2009.

Although Formula One generated healthy audiences, it did so during off-peak times and, with budgets tight, ITV decided that it would be worth paying £50 million a year to retain the right to show a single match on Wednesday nights, rather than risk losing that and keeping motor racing. The final has become the most important annual event in British and, arguably, world television.