Between 2012 and 2020, the global TV broadcast audience of the Olympic Summer Games declined. The 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo, which actually took place in 2021, had a global audience of approximately **** billion, down from *** billion five years earlier.

During a May 2024 survey, it was found that gymnastics was the sport adults in the United States were most likely to watch in the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Overall, 37 percent of respondents answered that they were likely to watch gymnastic events at the 2024 Games. Meanwhile, 31 percent of survey participants said they were likely to watch the swimming. How many events were there at the Paris 2024 events? The 2024 Paris Olympics featured 32 different sports. Aquatics and Athletics led with the highest number of events, with 48 and 49 respectively, while gymnastics included 18 events. Among the venues for the Paris 2024 Olympics, the gardens at the Palace of Versailles had the largest capacity, accommodating up to 80,000 spectators. The Stade de France, which hosted athletic events, rugby sevens, and the closing ceremony, had a capacity of over 70,000. How interested was the U.S. population in watching the 2024 Paris Olympics? According to a June 2024 survey in the United States, interest in watching the Paris 2024 Olympics was mixed. While a quarter of the population indicated they had no interest in the games, approximately two-thirds expressed a desire to watch. Nonetheless, the appeal of the games was reflected in the strong viewership for the opening ceremony, which attracted on average 28.6 million U.S. TV viewers. This figure also represents the highest viewership for an Olympic opening ceremony since 2012.

The statistic shows figures on the daily viewership of Rio 2016 Olympics in the United States. The Closing Ceremony was watched by 16.85 million viewers. An average minute of the broadcast was watched by four percent of adults aged 18 to 49. In total, 14 percent of the age group tuned in.

Olympics TV viewership – additional information

The Olympic Games is one of the largest events in the sporting calendar, attracting millions of TV viewers when it takes place every four years. The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil drew in an average of 27.5 million primetime viewers in the United States, which marks a decrease of 2.8 million viewers from the 2012 Olympics in London. The Games in 2016 also saw a fall in the number of those who watched the Opening Ceremony. The 26.49 million television viewers who watched the opening ceremony in Rio is a fall from the record 40.7 million viewers who watched the opening of the London Olympic Games in 2012.

During the Olympic Games in 2016, the peak TV viewership figures came on August 9, with 33.63 million tuning in to NBC to watch the day’s action, the equivalent of a 33 percent share. This coincided with a successful day for the U.S. team, with two gold medals being won in the pool and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team taking gold in the Women’s Team Final. August 11 was the only other day during the Rio Olympics that TV viewership topped 30 million, as 31.22 million spectators watched Simone Biles win gold in Women’s Individual All-Around Gymnastics Final, with teammate Aly Raisman taking silver. This day also brought further success for the U.S. team in the pool as the women’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay team took gold ahead of Australia.

The decrease in Olympic TV viewership in 2016 compared to previous years illustrates the increasing use of other digital platforms, with 63 percent of Olympic fans stating that they use their PC/laptop to watch sports coverage in the second quarter of 2016. This means that, by the Closing Ceremony of the Rio Olympics in 2016, over 2.7 billion minutes of Rio 2016 coverage had been live streamed from NBC Olympics digital platforms.

During a 2021 survey in the United States, artistic gymnastics was the most followed Summer Olympic sport for fans, with 35 percent of global respondents interested in the sport living in the United States. Swimming was followed in the U.S. by 34 percent of global respondents, while diving, rhythmic gymnastics, and basketball were each also followed in the U.S. by more than 20 percent of global respondents.

During a survey in the United States from December 2021, figure skating was the most followed Winter Olympic sport among fans of the Games, with 40 percent of respondents interested in the sport. Ski jumping followed in the list with a third of respondents enjoying the sport, while ice hockey was followed by 24 percent of respondents from the United States.

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in Beijing, China in February 2022. During an April 2021 survey in the United States, 32 percent of male respondents and 30 percent of female respondents stated that they would probably be tuning in to watch the Winter Olympics.

The Summer Olympic Games is one of the major sporting events in the world and takes place every four years. Initially due to be hosted in Tokyo in 2020, this international competition was postponed by *** year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A survey in May and June 2021 revealed that athletics and soccer were the two disciplines French people intended to follow the most during the Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympic Games.

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in Beijing, China in February 2022. During an April 2021 survey in the United States, ** percent of respondents stated that they would definitely be tuning in to watch the Winter Olympics, while ** percent claimed that they definitely would not be watching.

As of early 2024, over ** percent of U.S. consumers in a survey stated they would watch the Summer Olympics taking place in Paris via cable TV. Meanwhile, ** percent of respondents are likely to prefer streaming platforms like Hulu or YouTube TV to watch this sporting event.

During the 2024 Paris Olympics, table tennis was the most-watched sport on China's leading online streaming apps, attracting over 480 million viewers. Five table tennis events took place during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The statistic shows data on the digital sports viewership among Olympic fans worldwide as of the second quarter of 2016, by device. During the survey carried out in the second quarter of 2016, ** percent of responding Olympic fans aged 16 to 64 stated they had watched sports coverage on their tablet during the month leading up to the survey.

During the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a total of **** million viewers tuned into the BBC's TV coverage of the competition in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, there were a total of *** million streams on BBC Sport.

During the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the average TV audience in the United States totaled **** million across the total competition. One event that drew a particularly large viewership was the men's basketball final between Team USA and France, in which the U.S. won gold, with an average **** million viewers.

The Olympic Games is always one of the most hotly-anticipated events on the sporting calendar. In the lead up to the Olympic Games in Toyko in 2021, which were postponed by one year as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, ** percent of respondents in the United States expected to watch a lot of the coverage of the events.

The Olympic Games is always one of the most hotly-anticipated events on the sporting calendar. The Olympic Games in Toyko in 2021 were postponed by *** year as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and subsequently took place in the summer of 2021. During an August 2021 survey in the United States, ** percent of Republicans stated that they watched less of the Tokyo Olympics in comparison to previous Summer Games.

The Winter Olympic Games take place every four years and are watched on television by many people worldwide. During an April 2021 survey in the UK, 21 percent of male respondents and 16 percent of female respondents stated that they definitely planned to watch the 2022 Winter Olympics.

This timeline depicts U.S. household television ratings in the of the Summer Olympics opening ceremony from 1972 to 2016. The highest ratings belonged to the two Olympics which took place in the United States. The 1984 opening ceremony in Los Angeles earned a rating of 23.9 and the 1996 ceremony in Atlanta earned a rating of 23.6.

In a September 2024 survey, 46 percent of respondents in the United States identified as Winter Olympic Games fans. Meanwhile, 17 percent of respondents described themselves as diehard fans.

As of May 2024, over half of American consumers planned to watch the Paris Olympic Games starting in July on streaming services, such as Peacock, surpassing the share of live TV viewers. The share of the Summer Olympic viewers expecting to watch via live TV channels declined from 69 percent in 2021 to 47 percent in 2024.

Millions of sports fans across the world tune into the Olympics, but some countries on average reported a higher interest in the event as of 2021. In a survey among adults worldwide that year, ** percent of all respondents surveyed stated that they were not at all interested in the event. India was the country with the highest amount of interest in the Olympics. Meanwhile, Belgium was the country with the lowest interest in the Olympics.