Paris Olympics opening ceremony sees surge in Canadian viewership

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This article was published 29/07/2024 (798 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Paris Olympics opening ceremony saw a massive ratings jump in Canada compared to the numbers for Tokyo and Beijing.

CBC says more than 13.3 million viewers watched at least part of Friday’s ceremony on CBC, TSN, Sportsnet and RDS, while an additional 1.9 million streamed it online.

The four-hour show featured about 6,800 athletes travelling down the Seine River on dozens of boats in the pouring rain with a grand finale that saw Celine Dion stage a career comeback with a spirited performance from the Eiffel Tower.

CBC’s average viewership increased 33 per cent compared to the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony and 36 per cent over Beijing 2022, which were both constrained by COVID-19 restrictions.

CBC says viewership reached its highest point at 2:01 p.m. ET when 1.6 million viewers tuned in to see Team Canada’s introduction during the athletes’ parade on the Seine.

Digital streams of the opening ceremony on CBC Gem increased by almost 50 per cent compared to Beijing’s show and more than 100 per cent compared to the event in Tokyo.

The broadcaster says on Saturday at 2:57 p.m. ET, a peak audience of 1.5 million CBC viewers watched Summer McIntosh’s silver medal race in the women’s 400-metre freestyle.

On Sunday, CBC audiences peaked at 5:00 p.m. ET when 1.9 million viewers watched the Canadian women’s soccer team score a final goal against France to win the game.

CBC says for the first three days of Paris 2024 combined, the average daily hours spent streaming on CBC digital platforms are up 68 per cent versus Tokyo 2020 and 71 per cent versus Beijing 2022.

In total, the network says 20 million viewers have tuned into CBC/Radio-Canada’s Paris 2024 coverage on either an English or French TV network so far, which is 51 per cent of all Canadians.

It says that’s on par with Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 by this point in the Games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2024.