Paris Olympics opening ceremony watched by nearly 29M
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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.
