Paris Olympics the most followed ever, says IOC
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US gymnast Simone Biles competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, on Aug 5.
PHOTO: AFP
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LAUSANNE – The Paris Olympics were the most followed Games in television and social media history, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Dec 5.
“The Olympic Games Paris 2024 were the most followed Olympic Games ever,” IOC president Thomas Bach told reporters at the end of an executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“Eighty-four per cent of the potential audience – that means around five billion people around the globe – followed these Olympic Games. Every viewer watched, on average, nine hours of coverage, a 20 per cent increase on the previous Games.”
In the home market of France, 95 per cent of the potential audience watched an average of 24 hours of coverage of the Olympics.
“Engagement with the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on social media went, literally, through the roof,” Bach added.
“There were 412 billion engagements, an incredible 290 per cent increase on the previous edition of the Games.”
Bach also said that Paris 2024 had “demonstrated the unprecedented global appeal of the Olympic Games”.
“Audiences are following and interacting with the Olympic Games like never before,” the 70-year-old German said.
“The independent surveys also demonstrate that people believe that the Olympic Movement’s mission to unite the world in peaceful competition is more important than ever in a divided world. These were Olympic Games of a new era.”
Across all consumer studies, a total of more than 55,000 people in 18 countries were surveyed – with all respondents aged between 13 and 65, according to the IOC.
In other news, Bach has said that it is time for national boxing federations to decide if their athletes will be at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics under a new global body or if the sport will miss out.
The boxing competition at the Paris Olympics was run by the IOC after it stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of recognition in 2023 over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance.
The IOC has not included the sport on the LA 2028 programme yet, and has urged national boxing federations to create a new global boxing body or risk missing out on the Olympics in four years.
“This is in the hands of the national boxing federations and whether they want their athletes to have an opportunity to win Olympic medals or not,” Bach said.
A new organisation called World Boxing was launched in 2023 and has 55 members across five continents.
It is the only body that could potentially be able to replace the IBA as the sport’s global organisation. The IOC has said a decision will be taken in 2025. AFP, REUTERS
