Paris 2024 Olympics was watched by 5bn, claims IOC
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games were the most-watched in history, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC said 5bn people – 84 per cent of the world’s population – watched action from France last summer on TV or digital devices.
In Britain, 36.1m people – 59 per cent of the population – watched at least 15 minutes of the BBC’s coverage of the Olympics.
In Germany, 53.4m viewers – around two thirds of the population – were reached by ARD and ZDF TV broadcasts.
The IOC said a remarkable 95 per cent of the potential audience in the host nation watched an average of 24 hours of coverage of the Olympic Games on France Télévisions.
“The Olympic Games Paris 2024 were truly historic,” said the IOC’s outgoing president Thomas Bach.
“They were the most followed Olympic Games ever, with around 5bn people worldwide tuning in to witness the magic of sport.
“Across television, digital platforms and social media, Paris 2024 engaged new and younger audiences like never before, underlining the Olympic Games’ unique ability to inspire and unite people across generations and cultures.”
More Brits than Americans watched Paris 2024
Warner Bros Discovery’s European broadcasting reached 215m people, a 23 per cent increase on the previous summer Olympics in Tokyo.
In the US, total audience delivery across the live Paris prime and US primetime periods was up 82 per cent from Tokyo 2020, with 30.6m viewers on NBCUniversal.
Almost 90 per cent of potential viewers – 105m people – watched coverage across Japan Consortium’s TV channels.
The IOC said CCTV’s streaming and digital coverage produced 31bn video views in China, while in India 170m people watched the Games across Viacom18 platforms.
Coverage from Australia’s Channel 9, 9Gem and 9Now reached 19.5m people, the IOC’s annual report said.
Bach is due to hand over to the IOC’s first female president, Kirsty Coventry, next week.
He added: “I have every confidence that she will take the organisation into a new era – united in our commitment to the values that have guided us for over a century.”