German public broadcaster ZDF "recorded more than 5 million viewers for its broadcast of the Olympic weightlifting competition on Monday," according to Robert Meyer of QUOTENMETER. The weightlifting competition attracted 5.22 million viewers starting at 9:22pm. Later in the night, ZDF drew 4.63 million viewers for its coverage of Olympic wrestling. The number was topped by the 4.78 million who tuned in to watch beach volleyball. The summary of the equestrian event was watched by 4.52 million before the men's field hockey game between the U.S. and Brazil drew 2.21 million viewers at 11:24pm. Earlier in the day, the summary of the men's field hockey quarterfinal between Germany and New Zealand attracted 4.14 million viewers starting at 5:18pm. The game was the highest-rated Olympics broadcast on Monday, recording a 32.1% share. In the target demographic 14-49, Germany's 3-2 win drew a 23.2% share. The track and field coverage had a 23.4% market share in the target demo at 2:42pm (QUOTENMETER, 8/16).
IN FRANCE: L’ÉQUIPE reported despite lower audience numbers than it had for the London Games, France Télévisions is “still performing well since the start of the Rio Olympic Games.” The public service channels (France 2, France 3, France 4 and France Ô) “have drawn a cumulative audience of 34 million viewers during 455 broadcast hours.” During the first week, France 2 saw a 17% market share, “compared to a 22.7% market share during the same period of the 2012 London Games.” Unfavorable schedules, “notably related to the demands of U.S. broadcaster NBC, have not helped break records.” In the same week, France 3 drew an average market share of 10.7%, “its best week of the year, with the key peak audience of 6.2 million” watching the Gold Medal-winning performance by French judoka Teddy Riner. France Ô, the basketball, handball and volleyball channel, “broke its own market share record for a single week with 1.7%.” France 4, the rugby sevens and football channel for the Games, “could not rely on les Bleus to break its records” despite a peak audience of 1.2 million viewers watching the defeat of the women’s national football team against the U.S. on Aug. 6 (L’ÉQUIPE, 8/16).
