The Paris 2024 Olympic Games kicked off last Friday with an Opening Ceremony that captivated audiences worldwide and delivered record-breaking viewership numbers for NBCUniversal. The event, held on the River Seine, drew in 28.6 million viewers, marking the most-watched Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony since London 2012, according to data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.
This impressive figure represents a significant 60% increase compared to the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony and an 8% boost over Rio 2016. The combination of live afternoon coverage and a primetime special proved to be a winning formula for NBC.
Most-streamed event in Peacock history
Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, also experienced unprecedented success. The Opening Ceremony became the most-streamed event in Peacock history, attracting over 2.5 million viewers. Overall, streaming consumption for the Paris Olympics has skyrocketed, surpassing 1 billion minutes viewed through Friday – a sixfold increase compared to the same period during the Tokyo Games.
“Last night’s Opening Ceremony, one of the most ambitious and complex in Olympic history, was a spectacle for those in attendance in Paris, delivered a huge audience across our NBCU platforms, and set records for Peacock,” said NBC Sports President Rick Cordella. “Thanks to the tireless effort of our production and engineering teams, and extensive promotion, we are off to a strong start that is in line with the expectations of our NBC stations, and distribution and advertising partners. We are in great position as we look forward to the next two weeks of competition.”
A goldmine for Brands
Beyond viewership, the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony also proved to be a boon for advertisers. Brands featured in the event experienced a remarkable 320% increase in search volume compared to those in the Tokyo Opening Ceremony, according to NBCUniversal.
The opening ceremony tends to serve as a proxy for how well the Olympics will do on TV over the next two weeks of competition. NBC is under a lot of pressure to deliver big ratings. In 2022, the media giant and its parent Comcast struck a deal to pay $7.65 billion the renew its media rights deal till 2032. Last April, the company said it had made more than $1.2 billion on advertising for the Paris Games.
