Canadian audiences engaged on all CBC television and digital platforms to cheer on Team Canada and athletes from around the world during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, across 109 events, more than 1200 hours of broadcast coverage and an additional 2500 hours of live sport on CBC digital and streaming platforms. During a sports-filled month, CBC delivered the highest television audience share of any network in Canada for the entire duration of the Games and was the most-watched network in prime time for 15 days of competition. As media consumption habits continue to evolve, digital viewing increased to surpass PyeongChang 2018 with Canadians streaming 468 million minutes of video content and Beijing 2022 ranking as the most-streamed Games ever on CBC Gem.
“For the entirety of Beijing 2022, Canadians spent more time with CBC than any other network in Canada. Day after day, strong and sustained audiences peaking at well over a million tuned in, with half of all viewers spending more than 100 minutes watching each night,” said Chris Wilson, Executive Director, Sports and Olympics, CBC. “In addition to strong broadcast audiences, digital viewing soared, with Canadians streaming nearly half a billion minutes on CBC’s digital platforms and record time spent on CBC Gem. We’re proud that millions of Canadians united around our coverage from early in the morning to very late at night. Despite everything going on in the world, these numbers represent the enduring appeal and relevance of the Olympics in Canada.”
Beijing 2022 Audience Highlights:
Television:
- Over 70 percent of all Canadians – 26.5 million unique viewers – tuned in for CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of Beijing 2022..
- CBC delivered the highest all-day audience share of any English-language network in Canada for all 16 days of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, among both audiences 2+ and audiences 25-54.
- Fifty percent of CBC Olympic viewers watched an average of 102 minutes each night in prime time for 15 days of competition.
- CBC ranked as the most-watched network in Canada among 2+ audiences for 15 out of 16 days of Beijing 2022, winning the night in prime time for all nights with the exception of only Super Bowl LVI.
- CBC also ranked as the most-watched network in Canada among audiences 25-54 for most of the Games, winning 12 out of 16 nights in prime time among younger audiences.
- Adults 25-54 made up 31% of CBC’s Olympic audience, higher than the 2021/22 season average for English television (24%).
Digital:
- Canadians streamed nearly half a billion minutes (468 million minutes) of Beijing 2022 video content across all CBC digital platforms, up 11 percent over PyeongChang 2018
- Additionally, live viewing made up 64 percent of all video views, highlighting the increasing popularity of live streaming on CBC digital platforms.
- Beijing 2022 ranks as the most-streamed Games ever on CBC Gem, with Canadians spending 276 million minutes on the streaming platform, up 19 percent over Tokyo 2020.
- Connected TVs accounted for about 61 percent of the total time spent streaming Beijing 2022 content on CBC Gem.
- CBC Sports’ TikTok account more than doubled its followers and saw an increase in video views of more than 160 percent compared to Tokyo 2020, with over 20 million views.
- CBC’s expanded Indigenous language Olympic coverage garnered 226,850 video views, including the Opening and Closing ceremonies and three hockey games in Eastern Cree and – for the first time ever – all of Team Canada’s men’s and women’s hockey games in Inuktitut.
The most-watched Beijing 2022 competition moments on television in Canada are as follows
(with broadcast simulcast partners noted where applicable):
Day 1 – Saturday, February 5: 1.652 million watched the women’s snowboard slopestyle event at 9:45 p.m. ET (CBC and TSN)
Day 2 – Sunday, February 6: 1.81 million tuned in for the team figure skating pairs event at 9:06 p.m. ET (CBC and Sportsnet)
Day 3 – Monday, February 7: 1.839 million watched the women’s freestyle skiing big air final at 10:05 p.m. ET (CBC and TSN2)
Day 4 – Tuesday, February 8: 1.754 million watched the women’s snowboard halfpipe qualifying round at 10:22 pm ET (CBC and TSN)
Day 5 – Wednesday, February 9: 1.675 million watched the women’s snowboard halfpipe final at 9:45 p.m. ET (CBC)
Day 6 – Thursday, February 10: 1.486 million watched American Shaun White’s run in the men’s snowboard halfpipe event at 8:48 p.m. ET (CBC)
Day 7 – Friday, February 11: 1.555 million watched the mixed team snowboard cross final at 10:19 p.m. ET (CBC and TSN2)
Day 8 – Saturday, February 12: 1.81 million watched the Canada vs. USA men’s curling match at 10:29 pm ET. (CBC and TSN)
Day 9 – Sunday, February 13: 1.529 million watched Canadians Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen’s figure skating ice dance routine at 10:29 p.m. ET (CBC and Sportsnet)
Day 10 – Monday, February 14: 1.2 million watched the women’s snowboard big air final at 9:38 pm ET (CBC)
Day 11 – Tuesday, February 15: 1.1 million watched the men’s freestyle skiing slopestyle finals at 9:18 p.m. ET (CBC)
Day 12 – Wednesday, February 16: 2.7 million watched Team Canada take on Team USA in the women’s hockey gold medal game at 11:41 p.m. ET (CBC, TSN and Sportsnet)
Day 13 – Thursday, February 17: 1.6 million watched China’s Eileen Gu take her final run in the women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe event at 10 p.m. ET (CBC)
Day 14 – Friday, February 18: 1.1 million watched the men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe event at 9:47 p.m. ET (CBC)
Day 15 – Saturday, February 19: 1.2 million watched Justin Kripps and teammates after earning Team Canada’s 26th and final medal of the Games in 4-man bobsleigh at 11:02 p.m. ET (CBC)
TV Data Source: Source: Numeris TV Meter, Feb 2-20, 2022, CBC, CBC NN, TSN, TSN2, Sportsnet, Sportsnet One, Radio-Canada, RDS, RDS2, Mo-Su 2a-2a, Total Canada, %Cume Reach, generated by Infosys+TV.
Digital Data Source: Adobe Analytics
Social Data Source: TikTok analytics, CBC Sports account. Video views are not categorized as unique. Reporting period for the Beijing Olympics reflects Day -2 through Day 20 (February 2 – February 20, 2022). *Comparison of Tokyo data (video views and followers) provided via Socialbakers social listening tool, reflecting Day -2 through Day 20 (July 21 – August 8, 2021), this data is unverified and used as an estimate.