Paris Olympics set BBC streaming record
August 12, 2024
BBC Sport’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was streamed a record-breaking 218 million times online, more than doubling the Tokyo Olympic Games total of 104 million, with 12.2 million people signed in to BBC iPlayer accounts to watch coverage.
In addition to the coverage available on iPlayer and the BBC Sport website, BBC One enjoyed consistently high viewing figures throughout the duration of the competition with a Total TV reach (15 mins or more) of 36.1 million watching Paris 2024 on BBC TV, 59 per cent of the UK population and a peak of over 6 million on 14 separate days.
Keely Hodgkinson’s (pictured) win in the women’s 800 metres final was the most watched event with 9.1 million viewers watching the golden moment on BBC One and iPlayer, followed closely by Adam Peaty’s silver medal winning swim in the men’s 100 metres with 8.5 million; 8.4 million watched Noah Lyles win Gold in the men’s 100 metres whilst 7.9 million watched Gabby Thomas win Gold in the women’s 200 metres.
Elsewhere, 7.3 million watched Katarina Johnson-Thomson claim her first Olympic medal whilst 7 million watched the closing ceremony on BBC One on August 11th where audiences witnessed the Olympic flame go out in Paris and the flag passed on to LA for the Olympic Games in 2028. The ceremony also featured an appearance from Hollywood actor Tom Cruise and musical performances from Billie EIlish and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The BBC Sport social media accounts were front and centre in Paris to bring all of the very latest medal moments and behind the scenes interviews to followers, with over 730 million clip views across the 17 days.
Over 28 million unique users and 8.9 million signed in accounts used the BBC Sport website and app for the latest news and updates from Paris with 62.2 million online requests for highlights clips. On BBC Sounds, Radio 5 Live had 3.2 million digital streams across 200 hours of coverage.
Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport, commented: “The Paris 2024 Olympic Games during this remarkable summer of sport has seen some truly incredible medal moments and we have witnessed a host of new sport stars emerge on an international level. With world-class on-air performances and production, BBC Sport has been there to champion the athletes and to take the audience on a journey across multiple sporting disciplines. It is not an easy job, but these figures across digital, linear, online and audio demonstrates that BBC Sport’s unique multiplatform offer is capable of uniting the nation with the very best of British storytelling.”