Tokyo Olympics attract largest streaming audiences in Australia’s history

The Tokyo Olympics have been a ratings winner for Seven and after just one week it has been declared the ‘biggest digital event in Australian history’.

Australian swimmer Emma McKeon celebrates another gold medal on the podium. Picture: Getty Images

The Tokyo Olympics has been a winner for Channel 7 in its first week and has been declared the “biggest digital event in Australian history”.

Seven West Media chief digital officer Gereurd Roberts said audience numbers had been “absolutely staggering” and until Friday evening viewers chewed through 2.6 billion minutes of action on streaming service 7plus.

“If we compare this to the previous biggest day in Australian streaming history, that was in July (State of Origin, game three) and that was 86 million minutes and we delivered 363 million minutes last Sunday (July 25),” he said. “The biggest day for the Rio Olympics was 36 million minutes.

“It’s absolutely surpassed everyone’s expectations from a 7plus and a streaming perspective, after just a week.”

Seven has more than 40 live channels on the streaming app showing all the sports from Tokyo where there are no crowds.

Gold medal-winning canoeist Jessica Fox. Picture: Getty Images

“We literally stream every single sport, it has it’s own dedicated channel and when there’s a session for that sport you can go in,” Mr Roberts said.

The high viewer numbers have also been bolstered by the lockdowns in Australia including in the major capital cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide – during the Olympic period.

“Clearly what’s happened in terms of lockdowns … absolutely that’s something that’s helped with numbers and viewership and that makes this Olympics even more important to deliver,” Mr Roberts said.

“People are in lockdown and that’s really tough to go through so to see some of the moments that we have of either triumph or guts and incredible personal stories … at a time when we are in lockdown is really meaningful.”

Viewing numbers have also spiked during the historic gold medal moments including swimmer Ariarne Titmus who won two gold medals in the women’s 200m and 400m freestyle and Jessica Fox’s gold in the women’s slalom canoe.

Across the first week of the Olympics the average full-day broadcast audience was well above numbers who tuned into the 2016 Rio Olympics – audiences were up by 59 per cent in the capital cities and up 50 per cent nationally.

The Opening Ceremony remains the most watched program of 2021, attracting 3.69 million nationally across broadcast video on demand (BVOD) and 7-day catch up audiences.

The Olympics conclude on Sunday, August 8.