6.2 Million Canadians Watch Usain Bolt Win Gold: Day 9 at London 2012 is Most-Watched Yet

- Days 7-9 viewing leads Beijing 2008 by 87% -
- Average of 2.3 million viewers tune in during Days 7-9 -
- Daytime average a huge 3.6 million viewers -

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LONDON, Aug. 7, 2012 /CNW/ - A massive audience of 6.2 million Canadians watched the world's fastest runner win gold in the men's 100m final Sunday, powering Day 9 (Aug. 5) to be the most-watched day yet for Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium at London 2012. With an average of nearly 5 million viewers watching from 4:52 - 5:03 p.m. ET on CTV alone, Usain Bolt's winning race is in line with the record-setting Top 10 (non-hockey) events from Vancouver 2010. Day 9 (Sunday, Aug. 5) becomes the most-watched yet at London 2012 with 2.5 million viewers watching on average over 22 hours of coverage.

Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium confirms that audiences for London 2012 continue to out-run Beijing 2008, with viewing increasing by an impressive 87%* during Days 7-9. An average of 2.3 million viewers tuned in throughout the Consortium's 22 hours of daily coverage from Aug. 3-5, including an average audience of 2.9 million viewers in prime time. Additionally, a whopping 3.6 million viewers tuned into OLYMPIC DAYTIME during Days 7-9, with 4.3 million viewers tuning in to Sunday's daytime broadcast alone. On CTV, the tape-delayed prime time coverage averaged 2 million viewers, up 43% over CBC's prime time live/tape-delayed coverage of Beijing 2008 (1.4 million) for the same time period.

From the start of the 2012 Games to date, an incredible 30.5 million Canadians - or 90.7% of the population - has watched some coverage on Consortium channels. Additionally, London 2012 continues to be a wide-reaching event with 92% of all women, 91% of all men and 87% of all children experiencing some part of the 2012 Games on television.

In addition to the men's athletics 100m final, the top events of London 2012 on the Consortium networks all took place over the weekend. On Canada's golden Saturday, an average of 2.1 million viewers tuned in as Rosie MacLennan won Canada's first gold medal of the 2012 Games during the women's trampoline final. The men's 1500m freestyle swimming final averaged 2.8 million viewers as Canada's Ryan Cochrane won a silver medal, while the women's team pursuit cycling averaged 2.2 million as Canada won bronze. Additionally, Michael Phelps' last Olympic race, the men's 4x100m medley relay, garnered an average audience of more than 2.9 million on Saturday.

Meanwhile, despite only two days of coverage, athletics (16.3 million) is now a close second to swimming (18.6 million) in terms of most-watched sports by unique viewers.

Average audiences on Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium for Days 7-9 of London 2012 include: 

	Aug. 3 - Aug. 5
OLYMPIC MORNING / LONDRES 2012 À RDS (4 a.m. - 12 noon ET)	1.3 million
OLYMPIC DAYTIME / LONDRES 2012 À RDS (12 - 6 p.m. ET)	3.6 million
OLYMPIC PRIME TIME / AUJOURD'HUI À LONDRES SUR RDS (7 - 11 p.m. ET)	2.9 million

Additional Highlights for Days 7-9:

• Sunday's men's athletics 100m final is the top event on both CTV (4.9 million) and V (854,000) of the 2012 Games to date
• TSN achieved its highest audience of the 2012 Games to date on Friday with the Canada/Great Britain women's soccer quarter-final averaging 841,000 viewers and reaching 2.7 million viewers
• Sportsnet achieved three of its Top 5 most-watched events of the 2012 Games on Days 7-9, led by the women's athletics 100m semifinal on Saturday with 417,000 viewers
• RDS had four of its Top 5 events of the 2012 Games on Sunday including the women's 3m springboard final (446,000) and men's athletics 100m final (426,000)

As Canadians left work for the long weekend, they stayed with Consortium digital coverage of London 2012 as Days 7-9 brought 4.3 million video views, 20% higher than the same three days during Vancouver 2010. By the end of Day 9, total page views to CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca, and the CTV Olympics London 2012 and RDS olympiques pour Londres 2012 Apps reached 129 million views, pacing 17% higher than Vancouver 2010.

The mobile story continues, as Saturday and Sunday saw the highest days of mobile traffic to digital platforms with almost 70% of digital traffic coming through mobile devices.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

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About Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium
Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium is a unique relationship led by Canada's #1 broadcaster, CTV with 80% interest, along with Rogers Media Inc. with 20% interest. The Consortium is providing unprecedented English, French, and multilingual coverage and consumer choice on multiple platforms during the London 2012 Olympic Games, through August 12, 2012. Official brands include CTV, TSN, RDS, RDS Info, Sportsnet, OMNI Television, OLN, V, ATN, CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca, and select Rogers radio stations across the country. In addition, select stations will also air the London 2012 Paralympic Games from August 29 - September 9, 2012. The Consortium delivered the Top 5 most-watched events in Canadian television history during its revolutionary coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Source: BBM Canada
CTV electronic audience databases incorporate data beginning in 1994.
Audiences prior to August 31, 2009 based on BBM Nielsen Media Research Mark II meters.
*Based on total time tuned
Online: All digital numbers are via Omniture unless otherwise noted.

 

SOURCE: Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium

Renee Rouse, 416.384.7599, [email protected]
Amy Doary, 011.44.(0) 77.14079701, [email protected]