BBC Scores Record Interactive Audiences With Olympics
The Olympics have helped the BBC’s red-button interactive services to achieve unprecedented success, with new figures showing that a record breaking six million viewers have accessed them for more than one minute since the games began earlier this month.
The highest figure previously was recorded during this year’s Wimbledon, when 4.1 million people used the BBC’s interactive services for over one minute. Just behind Wimbledon in terms of interactive usage is the 2002 Commonwealth Games, during which 3.4 million viewers used their set-top-box’s interactive capabilities.
The latest official figures show that a staggering 50% of the available audience have pressed their red buttons to interact with the BBC’s Olympic programming, while 80%, or 4.89 million viewers, have used the service for more than three minutes.
More surprising still is the ability of interactive services to cater for long term viewing, with 58% of the available audience watching the BBC’s interactive Olympic coverage for 15 minutes and a further 46% staying tuned for more than 25 minutes.
Commenting on the figures, BBC Sport’s head of new media, sports news and development, Andrew Thompson, said: “These are fantastic figures and naturally we are delighted. The Olympics are perfect for interactive television because there are so many events happening at the same time.”
He added: “Before we had the interactive option, hundreds of hours of footage disappeared down a black hole. But now with interactive television, viewers have up to four extra sports to choose from and, judging by the initial figures, they are taking full advantage of that.”
The latest figures show only the viewing habits of digital satellite viewers, but with Freeview and cable viewers also able to access the service, the popularity of interactive viewing is almost certain to be larger than can currently be measured.
The success of the BBC’s interactive services will be a relief to BBC bosses, having ploughed funding into interactive and online coverage of this year’s Olympics. For the first time, the events are being carried via broadband, interactive television and digital text services, as well as via conventional TV and radio broadcasts and teletext (see BBC Takes Olympics Online And Interactive For First Time).
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