Sara Fischer | Paris Olympics opening ceremony watched by nearly 29M

This piece is by WWSG exclusive thought leader, Sara Fischer. 

The opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics drew nearly 29 million viewers Friday night, the highest viewership since the 2012 Games.

Why it matters: Ratings for the Olympics were depressed during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was unclear whether they would ever rebound.

• The Tokyo Summer Games in 2021 drew just 17.9 million viewers for its opening ceremony, a 33-year low.
• The Beijing Winter Olympics the following year also saw record viewership declines, with the pandemic leaving spectator seats empty during big events.

Zoom in: Friday’s opening ceremony, the most-watched live event ever on NBCU’s streaming service Peacock, attracted 28.6 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, according to data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

• Another 666,000 watched the event on Telemundo Deportes.
• That’s up from the 26.5 million people that watched the opening ceremony in Rio eight years prior in 2016, NBC Sports said in a statement.

The big picture: NBC is under enormous pressure to deliver big ratings for the Olympics, given how much cash it has shelled out for the Games over a long-term contract.

• NBC and its parent Comcast struck a deal in 2014 to pay $7.65 billion to renew its media rights deal through 2032.

• Executives have said that the firm has made more than $1.2 billion on advertising for the Paris Games.
• In a statement, NBC Sports said brands advertising during the opening ceremony generated +320% greater search volume than brands during the Tokyo opening ceremony.

What to watch: The opening ceremony typically serves as a proxy for how well the Olympics will do on TV over the following two weeks of competition.

• The Paris Olympics kicked off July 26 and will close Aug. 11.

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