CBC/Radio-Canada has released Numeris data that indicates that since the beginning of the Tokyo Olympic Games, more than half of all Canadians have watched the public broadcaster’s television coverage, with 20.3 million viewers tuning in on either an English or French TV network to date.
CBC says it’s also attracting record digital audiences for Tokyo 2020 with 8.4 million video views on CBC digital platforms so far, an increase of 65% compared to the same period during Pyeongchang 2018, which marked a similar time difference of 11 to 16 hours for Canadian viewers.
Despite the games starting on a summer weekend and the easing of pandemic restrictions, CBC says the Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 23 reached 6.5 million Canadians – the most-watched primetime program in Canada among viewers 2+ and 25-54 with peak viewership of 1.361 million at 8:53 p.m and an average audience of over 1 million for the entire broadcast. CBC’s primetime television programming from 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m garnered an average audience of 1.112 million on Saturday, July 24, increasing by 19% on Sunday, July 25 to 1.325 million. Daytime also attracted strong viewership, with an average audience 10 times higher than weekends during the regular season.
The three most-watched Tokyo 2020 moments on CBC to date include Canada taking the silver medal in the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay on Saturday, July 24 at 10:53 p.m. when 1.918 million watched; Monday, July 26 at 9:54 p.m. when 2.2 million tuned in for the start of the Women’s 100m Backstroke; and Sunday, July 25 at 10:06 p.m. when 2.3 million watched swimmer Maggie Mac Neil receive Canada’s first gold medal in the Women’s 100m Butterfly.
The most-watched live video on digital platforms during the opening weekend were the two newly-introduced Olympic sports: Men’s Skateboarding Street on CBC.ca, with the Women & Men’s Surfing preliminary rounds a close second. The most-watched on-demand video on digital during opening weekend was swimmer Penny Oleksiak’s silver medal win on CBC.ca.
CBC will continue to offer live and encore coverage of Tokyo 2020 through Aug. 8, including the Closing Ceremony. Find the full schedule here.
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