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The success is «reaffirming the power and value of integrating sports into our Discovery+ entertainment service,» says JB Perrette, president & CEO, Discovery Streaming & International.
By Georg Szalai
International Business Editor
The opening week of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has brought Discovery streaming audiences in Europe that have surpassed its performance for the 2018 Winter Games, the company said on Monday.
In an update, the company said its Olympics coverage has “driven massive increases in engagement on Discovery+ and Eurosport digital services, as well as strong overall linear viewership across Europe.” It added: “Eight times more viewers are streaming Olympic content compared to the same period for Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 with total new paid subscribers to Discovery’s streaming services already surpassing 2018 with a week of competition still to go.” Eurosport is Discovery’s European network and digital sports brand.
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Nearly three-quarters of a billion streaming minutes have been consumed on Discovery’s subscription services so far, “more than 18 times higher than the same period of PyeongChang 2018,” Discovery said. “Average minutes consumed per viewer across Discovery+ and Eurosport streaming services has more than doubled, as well as people on average watching 29 percent longer on television vs PyeongChang 2018.” Free Olympics news and short video clips on Eurosport.com have also more than doubled their reach.
Meanwhile, Eurosport’s average linear audiences remain strong and are in line with the last Olympic Winter Games, despite total TV usage being down more than 10 percent since 2018. “Linear television audience shares in the Nordics, including Sweden and Norway where Discovery is both the pay-TV and free-to-air broadcaster, remain strong versus PyeongChang 2018, with continued stellar results reaching highs of 87 percent (Norway), 83 percent (Sweden) and 71 percent (Finland),” the firm said.
“The Olympics are off to a strong start across all our platforms, with Discovery+ at the forefront of this early success as the growth of our streaming service continues to significantly outperform,” said JB Perrette, president & CEO, Discovery Streaming & International. “It is also reaffirming the power and value of integrating sports into our Discovery+ entertainment service. As well as attracting a significant number of new Discovery+ subscribers, sports broadens its appeal throughout the whole household and provides consumers an even greater, more retentive value proposition. Through just this first week, more than a third of new Discovery+ Olympics subscribers have already consumed other entertainment content on the platform.”
Andrew Georgiou, president of sports, Discovery, added: “The audience and engagement growth we have experienced during the opening stage of the Games really demonstrates the additional value Discovery brings to its audiences and partners. Through our network of free-to-air, Eurosport, Discovery+ and free digital and social platforms, we are driving more people to our Olympic content for longer.”
Since the start of the Olympics, nearly twice as many people have visited the ad-supported Eurosport.com site, together with its multiple local country versions, compared to the same stage of PyeongChang 2018, according to Discovery.
Discovery is presenting the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 in 50 markets in Europe, featuring 11 national productions and coverage in 19 languages.
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