London Olympics: Canadian Viewership Hits Records

7.5 million watched Closing Ceremony and 31.9 million or 95% of population viewed some part of the games

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/13/2012 7:09:42 PM

Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium (COBMC) is reporting record viewing levels for both the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games, which attracted some 7.5 million Canadian viewers, and the whole Olympics, portions of which were viewed by 31.9 million, or about 95% of the population.

The closing ceremonies attracted some 5.1 million viewers on CTV alone.

The COBMC, which is 80% owned by CTV, and 20% by Rogers Media, also reported that Canadian watched a total of 662 million hours of coverage, with the average viewer consuming some 21 hours.

On the digital side, an additional 3.4 million hours of content was viewed at CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca and that the CTV Olympics London 2012 and RDS olympiques pour Londres 2012 apps were downloaded 1.1 million times.

"Our broadcast of the London 2012 Olympic Games has proved to be record-setting," said Adam Ashton, president of COBMC in a statement. "Audiences like these set a new benchmark for Summer Olympic Games broadcasts in our country."

Viewing of the Games was up 88% from Beijing based on total time tuned, the COBMC reported, and the games helped boost overall TV viewing in Canada by 13% during the games.

London 2012 event viewership peaked on Sunday, Aug. 5 as Usain Bolt ran to his first gold of the London Games in the 100 meter final.

In contrast, online viewing hit its highest levels on Thursday, Aug. 9 with 2.5 million site visits and 1.9 million video views as the Canadian Women's soccer team won bronze, and Usain Bolt made his second repeat gold medal performance.

Thanks to the Olympics, CTV won daytime and primetime on every day of the Games, with both total viewers and in the key 25-54 and 18-49 demos.