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Seven claims records with Olympics

Australia was hooked on the Tokyo Games across Seven and 7plus.

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Seven has claimed the Tokyo Olympics as the biggest television and streaming event in Australian history.

Undoubtedly boosted by lockdowns, Seven has claimed 20.2 million Australians watched coverage over its 17 days, with average full day broadcast audience up 80% on Rio 2016 in the capital cities and up 71% nationally.

Seven network pulled a huge 53% last week in metro viewing, up on 49.8% the previous week and 39.5% the week before.

7plus set new Australian streaming records during the competition, adding more than 2.8 million new registered users, bringing its total number of registered accounts to more than 9.2 million, an increase of 44% since Tokyo 2020 started.

Australians watched more than 4.74 billion minutes on 7plus, making it the biggest digital event in Australian history. 7plus was particularly popular with younger viewers, with VOZ data recording 18% of people 18 to 39.

Seven West Media Chief Revenue Officer and Director of Olympics, Kurt Burnette: “We came into the Games confident Tokyo 2020 would be a success, but the record-breaking reaction from audiences exceeded all expectations.

“Our exclusive, live and free coverage on Seven and 7plus was unmissable entertainment for millions, as our Aussie athletes equaled their best Olympic performance ever and provided Australia with much-needed inspiration. For the brands involved with delivering the Games across the screens of Seven, it represented the largest and most addressable marketing platform ever created.

“The success of our innovative coverage is testament to the incredible people we have behind the scenes and on-screen bringing must-watch moments to viewers. From our exceptional hosts and commentary teams to the excellent production and operations teams across broadcast and digital, everyone worked together to deliver a world-class experience,” he said.

Legendary broadcaster Bruce McAvaney, said: “Notwithstanding the wonderment of the Tokyo Games actually going ahead, in terms of performances, they are arguably the most memorable Olympics of my lifetime on foreign soil.

“We’ve seen the emergence of a new group of champions. We’ve watched them give their absolute best, we know how hard they’ve worked to get there and we’ve shared moments of joy and sorrow alongside their families and friends.

“There are some standout performances that seem to have struck a chord with us all. We need a lift right now and a story to follow and those have built up as the Games have evolved.”

Paralympics run from 24 August and 5 September on Seven.

6 Responses

  2. Next two Olympics wont be so viewer friendly Paris is -8 hours so will run from around 6pm-6am AEST and Los Angeles is -17 so 3am-3pm AEST, during the night and workdays. Most of the prime time events for Paris will be in the early hours of the morning

  4. 7 must have broke the record for advertising as well, their advertising algorithm got stuck more than once, repeating the same ad five times in succession on the 7+app. Logically there should be no surprises that more viewers watched the 2020 Olympics as it is the age of mobile devices and watching TV shows and movies on buses and trains or during lunch breaks etc. With sports events now more commonly seen on streaming apps the next Olympics broadcast presumably will be better designed with this in mind, though whether France will be able to match the Japanese for innovative technology we shall wait and see.

  6. On the whole, 7 did a good job.
    Great that the Olympic Committee mandate that the Games must be shown on FTA globally.
    Despite all the problems faced. Japan did a remarkable job in staging the games with no major COVID outbreaks interfering with the competitions.

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