Paris Olympics 2024 Draws 28.6M Viewers; Most-Watched Opening Ceremony Since 2012

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVJuly 27, 2024

Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images

NBC Sports announced on Saturday that the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics broadcast was viewed by 28.6 million viewers between NBC and Peacock.

That made it the most viewed Opening Ceremony since the 2012 Games in London.

“Last night’s Opening Ceremony, one of the most ambitious and complex in Olympic history, was a spectacle for those in attendance in Paris, delivered a huge audience across our NBCU platforms, and set records for Peacock,” NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said in a statement.

Tokyo’s Opening Ceremony in 2021 had 17.9 million total viewers, while the Rio Opening Ceremony had 26.5 million viewers.

NBC announced that the over 2.5 million viewers who watched on Peacock made it the most streamed Opening Ceremony ever and the “No. 1 entertainment event in Peacock history.”

While the Opening Ceremony divided opinion—because what doesn’t these days?—there’s no doubting it provided spectacle.

Athletes from all participating countries were paraded on boats to the Trocadéro. Lady Gaga performed in French on the banks of the Seine. There was a ringing of the bells at Notre Dame, a headless Marie Antoinette, a drag and dancing interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus, the traditional lighting of the cauldron and of course the performance from Celine Dion.

The Olympic Games @OlympicsThe interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings. #Paris2024 #OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/FBlQNNUmvV

“We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that,” Opening Ceremony creative director Thomas Jolly said in regards to the backlash over parts of the spectacle. “In France, we have freedom of creation, artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country. I didn’t have any specific messages that I wanted to deliver. In France, we are republic, we have the right to love whom we want, we have the right not to be worshippers, we have a lot of rights in France, and this is what I wanted to convey.”