Advanced Television

Over 215m Europeans viewed Olympics on WBD platforms

August 13, 2024

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has reported record viewership and engagement across all platforms – spanning free-to-air, pay-TV, streaming, web and social – during  the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, which came to an end with the Closing Ceremony on August 11th.

Fueled by the recent launch of Max in 25 European markets, Paris 2024 saw more people stream more Olympics content for longer than ever before.

Among the highlights:

Total viewership

  • Cumulative reach of more than 215 million in Europe viewing Olympics content on WBD’s platforms – 23 per cent more than Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (+40 million).
  • This includes Max and discovery+, as well as Eurosport TV channels and free-to-air networks in Norway (TVNorge), Sweden (Kanal 5) and Finland (Kutonen, TV5).

Streaming viewership

  • More than 7 billion minutes streamed over the course of the Games – six times more than Tokyo 2020.
  • A record-breaking day: August 4th saw a WBD record in Europe of 600 million minutes in a single day streamed by Max and discovery+ subscribers.
    • The day featured the Men’s 100 metres final, Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz Men’s Tennis gold medal match, the final day of swimming events and the women’s road race in Cycling.
  • Four times as many unique streaming viewers on WBD platforms, including Max and discovery+, throughout the Games compared to the last summer Olympics.

Streaming subscribers

  • New paid streaming subscribers exceeded those for the entire Tokyo 2020 after just four days of competition in Paris (July 27th to 30th).
  • Record number of new paid streaming subscribers over the Games period; 77 per cent more than Tokyo 2020.
  • July 27th saw WBD’s highest number of new paid streaming subscribers ever in a single day in Europe (Max, discovery+ or previously HBO Max).
  • Significant subscriber growth across all major markets in Europe, particularly France, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the UK.

JB Perrette, CEO and President, Global Streaming and Games, WBD, commented: “Paris 2024 has exceeded all expectations for fans and audiences, and for Max and Warner Bros Discovery’s streaming business. We’ve added millions of new paying subscribers, and engaged millions of viewers daily on streaming who have watched billions of minutes of content during the Games. Our streaming growth momentum is only gaining strength, and we’ve still got almost half the global addressable market to go. Congratulations and thank you to our great partners at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for an epic Olympic Games.”

Andrew Georgiou, President and Managing Director, WBD UK & Ireland and WBD Sports Europe, added: “Paris 2024 has again demonstrated the value of bringing premium sport and entertainment together to drive audience and engagement at scale. We’ve maximised this opportunity at these Games, delivering world-class production featuring outstanding on-screen experts and local country storytelling that has again proven to be a winning combination. Max has proven to be a game-changer for sports viewing with an enhanced product experience and new interactive features which encouraged more subscribers to come on platform and stay engaged for longer.”

Further highlights include:

Free web, app and social

  • More than 4.5 billion video views of WBD Olympics posts on social.
    • Nearly ten times more than Tokyo 2020 and more than four times greater than Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and Tokyo 2020 combined.
    • TikTok and Instagram especially driving views.

Free-to-air and pay-TV

  • WBD’s average linear television audiences for Paris 2024 were double Tokyo 2020.
  • Impressive audience shares – more than 80 per cent for a number of events – were seen across both Free-to-Air (Finland, Norway and Sweden) and Eurosport’s pay-TV network – including increasing share vs free-to-air partners in many territories.
    • August 5th saw a record-breaking TV audience on Kanal 5 in Sweden, as Swedish gold medallist, Armand Duplantis, won the men’s pole vault. An 82 per cent TV audience share was amongst the highest ever share in Kanal 5’s history.
    • In Poland, Eurosport 1 & 2, available via pay-tv, had their best day and highest average audience ever during the Games on August 7th, attracting a 9.7 per cent share at the group level. Eurosport 1 was the second most viewed channel in the country on the day. At least nine out of the ten highest viewed days on Eurosport in Poland came during Paris 2024.

WBD will continue to be the only place to present every moment of the Games on its streaming and digital platforms and hold full pay-TV rights. This includes Olympic Winter Games Milan Cortina 2026, Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028, Olympic Winter Games French Alps 2030 and Olympic Games Brisbane 2032.

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