Rio Olympics racks up 80m views online for BBC
James R | On 16, Aug 2016
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games have helped the BBC race to a record level of online traffic this summer.
The past week has been the biggest ever week for BBC Sport online with 58.2m global unique browsers following the action from Brazil, as well as the return of the Premier League and England’s Test match v Pakistan from around the world. The new seven-day record for BBC Sport digital traffic smashes the previous record of 41.4m set during the first week of Euro 2016. Of the 58.2m unique browsers, 40.3m came from the UK, setting another personal best for the BBC.
And like many of the Olympians competing in Rio, BBC Sport beat its own record for daily traffic, which stood at 14.6m unique browsers from the day England faced Wales at Euro 2016, five times since the start of the Games. It now stands at 19m for Super Sunday as fans followed Team GB’s historic medal haul.
In total, 81.2m people have accessed video clips, catch-up services and watched live streams across BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer since the start of the Games, with audiences using the digital service to watch both live and on-demand.
Audiences have been glued to the action on their mobile devices too, with the BBC Sport mobile app posting its biggest ever week with 4.4m unique browsers.
Ben Gallop, BBC Sport’s Head of Digital and Radio, says: “This summer continues to be a huge one for BBC Sport’s digital service with record numbers of fans choosing to follow the Olympics action online with the BBC. Whether it’s via the BBC Sport website, app or BBC iPlayer, our first class digital coverage offers fans a 24-hour a day personalised service.”
Photo: Adrian Meyers