Paris 2024. 54 million French people watched at least one minute of the Olympics on French TV

A week into the Olympics, French television was “dazzled” not just because of its backdrop of Paris rooftops: its audience was at its peak, benefiting from greater popular enthusiasm than expected.

With more than 23 million viewers, Opening ceremony sets the tonemaking France 2 the second most watched show on the French small screen (excluding the presidential speeches) and replacing TF1 for the first time in July.

Since then, lured by France’s nearly three dozen medal performances, at home, 54 million French watched at least one minute of the Olympics on public services, 15 million more than watched during the same period at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, the audiovisual group said on Thursday.

“These results have exceeded our expectations”, reflecting “people’s enthusiasm”, welcomed by France Télévisions’ number two, Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, who plans to reach “100% of the French population” (currently 86%) in all competitions. “The challenge of mobilising all channels, including simultaneously, has been successful,” he added.

“Happy People”

For the first time, France 2 and France 3 covered the event in full force (excluding news and religious broadcasts, during which France 5 famously “switched”), broadcasting nearly 50 hours a day. Since Saturday, their average ratings have been over 31% and 15% respectively, pushing TF1 down to third place on the podium.

In digital terms, the organization had “68.5 million views in four days”, with “15.3 million” on the Olympics-dedicated digital channel on France.tv and “64 million” for the entire Tokyo Games, said Nicolas Vernoy, deputy editorial director in charge of digital sports products. “They promised us complex games and I met only happy people,” said Jean-Baptiste Marteau, the host of the short-lived France 2 on the rooftop of the Musée de l’Homme in the Trocadéro, a symbol of an unusual installation.

“At first, we felt a little dizzy,” the journalist said of his workplace, from which we can see the Montparnasse Tower behind the Eiffel Tower, which is decorated with a huge photo of a swimmer. Leon MarchandOn Wednesday, his second victory triggered a peak of 13.5 million viewers on France 2. “It was hot, but that’s what makes you feel the atmosphere,” explained Jean-Baptiste Matteau, giving rise to the “screams” that were suddenly heard during the beach volleyball match on the Champ de Mars.

” Record”

France 3 and the show “Quelle jeux” move to Club France in La Villette (19th)^Egypt The digital channel has moved into the headquarters of France Televisions (XV^Egypt).

The latter is reportedly connected via “dark fiber” and “big pipes” to the headquarters of OBS in Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis), the subsidiary of the International Olympic Committee responsible for filming the Olympic Games, the equivalent of the “42nd World Cup”. Frédéric Gaillard, production director of France Televisions

A well-functioning system that is not protected against failure or criticism, sometimes violent, rather than oppositional Leah Salam His talk show, Quelle jeux, was accused of not giving enough space to athletes.

Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez praised the show for setting an “extraordinary (audience) record for the second part of the evening” and praised its “ability to combine sport with different viewpoints”.

Another success, the general manager of France.tv revealed to Le Figaro, was the “record net advertising turnover of 104 million euros” related to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which should have amortized its costs.

The Eurosport pay channel, the only one broadcasting all the matches, is also constantly breaking its “audience records”, according to Clement Schwebieg, president of Warner Bros. Discovery Western Europe and Africa claims to have “already reached more than 12 million” viewers in France. “Here, these figures are record, but we find them all over the world,” assures Yiannis Exarchos, director of OBS.