The Paris 2024 Olympics did not only highlight the athletic prowess and human endurance but also a groundbreaking event for digital engagement and media coverage.
The last Olympic games has set a new standard for how audiences engage with major events in the digital age. With an estimated reach of two trillion readers and a massive presence across both traditional and digital media, the 2024 athletic event proved that the future of sports coverage is more interactive and immersive than ever before.
From live blogs to social media, the digital footprint of these Games highlights a shift towards real-time, dynamic content that keeps audiences engaged and coming back for more.
According to the data of World Athletics, over one million articles were published about the event, reaching an estimated global audience of two trillion readers. The top ten countries driving this media coverage include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, Brazil, France, India, China, and Spain.
Online engagement metrics were also equally impressive. World Athletics reported over 15 million page impressions on its website during the Olympics, marking a 40 percent increase compared to the Tokyo 2020 Games. This surge in digital traffic across platforms underscores the growing public interest in live coverage and whether these are through live blogs, news articles, short videos on social media and live broadcasts, for real-time updates.
Data from Chartbeat’s network indicates that total engagement with content created around the Paris Olympics 2024 increased more than twice compared to the previous Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
"The Average Engaged Time started climbing during the opening ceremonies and peaked at more than 876,000 hours on August 2nd, the day Simone Biles won gold in all-around gymnastics and Léon Marchand won his fourth gold medal in a swimming event", shares Chartbeat. Other observations about the 2024 Olympics specifically included:
- Total page views: 1.35 billion
- Page views peaked on August 2nd at about 89 million
- The average engaged time with Olympics content was 33.5 seconds
The Olympics traditionally draw massive global audiences, and the 2024 Games were no exception.
NBCUniversal, which holds the broadcast rights in the United States, reported a skyrocketing number of 30.6million viewership across both their television and streaming platforms, Peacock and NBC Sports.The network utilized a combination of traditional TV broadcasts, live streaming, and on-demand content to cater to various viewer preferences, ensuring wide accessibility and high engagement.
In Europe, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) provided comprehensive coverage across multiple member broadcasters, offering free-to-air television access in many countries, which significantly boosted viewership numbers.
As a result, the amount of social media activities related to the Olympic games reached an impressive number.
On its social media channels the World Athletics organisation alone witnessed the following:
- 543,000 new followers
- More than 1200 posts
- 42 million views
- 217 million impressions
- 12.5 million engagements
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