Olympics Channel sees 4 years of growth
August 24, 2020
The fourth year of operation proved to be record-breaking for the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Channel.
Since launching in August 2016, the Olympic Channel global media destination has produced more than 25,000 pieces of video content representing all Olympic sports disciplines and 206 countries, including 76 original series and films, resulting in more than 3.3 billion video views across all platforms. Average watch time on the platform is 8:05 minutes per video watched.
Continuing its upward viewership trend, the global digital platform keeps users coming back, with a 65 per cent increase over the previous 12 months in monthly returning users (MRUs), one of the key metrics for the long-term success of the Olympic Channel.
On social media, the Olympic Channel community has grown to more than 10.4 million, with 74.9 per cent of those engaging with content on social media under the age of 35.
Key to the Olympic Channel’s fourth year of success was its coverage and promotion behind Lausanne 2020 as a worldwide digital rights holder, which ensured global coverage for the Winter YOG for the first time and led to the event being the most digitally consumed Winter YOG to date.
Additional growth drivers during the past year include the Boxing Qualification Events for Tokyo 2020, digital engagement campaigns for the IOC during the Covid-19 pandemic, which highlighted athletes and home workouts across social media, localised content in Japan and India, award-winning original programming and coverage of key events in support of Tokyo 2020.
Juan Antonio Samaranch, Chair of Olympic Channel Services, S.L., said: “Over the course of four years, the Olympic Channel has made great strides in reaching fans and younger audiences and where and how they consume content by providing more personalised content across multiple platforms. With less than a year to go to Tokyo 2020, now taking place in 2021, we expect another record-breaking year ahead as the Olympic Channel team continues to build excitement for the Olympic Games both in Japan and to a worldwide audience.”