Less than three full days into the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, CBC/Radio-Canada has attracted 68 per cent of the population (23.8 million Canadians) to its coverage across all platforms. Beginning with Friday’s Opening Ceremony and continuing through the weekend, Canadians are finding CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage on the platforms of their choice.
“Canadians love the Olympic Games, and CBC’s coverage is giving them a front row seat to the moments that matter most to them,” said Greg Stremlaw, executive director, CBC Sports, and general manager and chef de mission for CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of Rio 2016. “One of our goals for these Games is to make as much coverage available as possible across all of our platforms, and the audiences we are seeing so far clearly indicate that Canadians are finding and taking full advantage of our television and digital programming in significant numbers.”
Audience highlights from the opening weekend (Friday, Aug. 5–Sunday, Aug. 7):
- All three of CBC’s programming blocks saw growth in viewership over the weekend, including a 61 per cent increase in primetime on Sunday compared to Saturday.
- CBC’s digital portals to coverage of the Olympic Games (cbc.ca/olympics and CBC’s app for Rio 2016) generated 23.9 million pages views and 3.6 million video views from Friday night through Sunday.
- The most-watched moment of CBC’s coverage of Rio 2016 so far was on Sunday at 9:06 p.m. ET when 3.4 million Canadians watched as Canada’s Penny Oleksiak took silver in the women’s 100m butterfly.
- CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday drew an average audience (2+) of 4.4 million viewers to the television and live-streaming simulcasts. Overall, coverage of the Opening Ceremony reached more than 13 million Canadians between 7–11 p.m. ET.
Sources: Numeris TV Meter, Friday August 5 to Sunday August 7, Total TV, M-Su 2a-2a, Total Canada, AMA & CumRch generated by Infosys+ TV. Based on preliminary overnight data.
