Olympics Gain Strong Ratings In Europe's Biggest Countries

The London Games have drawn strong ratings in big European countries, according to George Szalai of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. In such major TV markets as Germany, France and Great Britain, the "lack of a big time difference has helped draw bigger live TV crowds than Beijing '08 managed to reach." In the U.K., the BBC "has managed to draw a bigger peak audience every day" of the London Games than it had hit on its biggest day of its Beijing coverage. The BBC also "had success" with its Games coverage on digital broadcast network BBC3, which last weekend for the first time "outperformed commercial broadcaster ITV1 in terms of all-day viewer share." In France, 34 million people have watched "at least one hour of the Games" on France TV's networks France 2, France 3, France 4 and France O. France TV's Olympic show "JO: Londres 2012," that airs on France 2 and 3, "has consistently been the top program in the country" since the Games began. In Germany, public broadcaster ZDF has averaged 3.59 million viewers for its coverage, so far, a market share of 24.9%. Beijing "had drawn an average audience" of 1.81 million, or a share of 22.5% (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 8/12).     

AUSTRALIA: In Sydney, Amanda Meade wrote that last week the Nine network enjoyed "a clean sweep of the ratings, winning 17 of the top 20 spots with Olympics programming and news." Nine's ratings showed that evenings involving stars such as James Magnussen, Sally Pearson and Usain Bolt "attracted the highest ratings." Combined with Foxtel's average of 600,000 viewers a night, more than 2.5 million Australians watched the Olympics each night. Foxtel's eight dedicated channels "gave the pay-TV operator record ratings" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/13).

GERMANY: QUOTENMETER.de's Manuel Nunez Sanchez reported that German public broadcaster ZDF "attained top ratings on the final day of its Olympic coverage." The men's field hockey final between Germany and the Netherlands at 9pm CEST attracted an average of 5.3 million viewers or 22%. In the marketing relevant target age group 14-49, 1.69 million viewers or 19.7% watched the German team win the Gold Medal with a 2-1 victory.  The broadcasts of race walking, modern pentathlon and track and field, which started at 7:20pm attracted 3.95 million viewers or 23.2%. In the target group, the three events were watched by 1.25 million viewers or 19%. The men's football final between Brazil and Mexico attracted 2.22 million viewers at 4pm. That is an overall market share of 21.3% and 17.4% in the target group. Saturday's most-watched event was the women's mountain bike race at 1:30pm. A total of 2.87 million viewers or 29.1% watched 40-year-old German mountain biker Sabine Spitz win the Silver Medal. In the target group, the race attracted 1.01 million viewers or 24.9%. ZDF's day-long Olympic coverage attained a market share of 21.3% overall and 16.8% in the target group (QUOTENMETER.de, 8/12).

FRANCE: LE PARISIEN reported that France 2 finished Saturday night "with another Gold Medal on the audience podium." The broadcaster's Olympics coverage was watched by an average of 4.3 million people and a share of 33.2%. There was even a peak audience of 6.8 million at 10pm local time during the women's basketball final between France and the U.S. (LE PARISIEN, 8/12).

SPAIN: EUROPA PRESS reported that La 1 and Teledeporte's coverage of the men's 4x100m final "brought in almost" 3 million viewers. Usain Bolt's third Gold Medal at the Games had a total of 2.96 million people were tuned in and a 30.2% share (EP, 8/12).

JAPAN: The JIJI PRESS reported that the women's football Gold Medal match between Japan and the U.S. "drew a remarkably high TV rating." A survey conducted by Video Research Ltd. revealed that "the first half of the game drew an average rating of 19.4% in the Kanto eastern Japan area and 16.2% in the Kansai western Japan region." The highest rating during the first half was 23.6% in the Kanto region and 19.5% in the Kansai region, "immediately after a headed goal by forward Shinobu Ono was disallowed for offside" (JIJI PRESS, 8/10).