With the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 now underway, Canadian audiences are watching on all platforms to cheer on Team Canada and athletes from around the world during the second unprecedented pandemic Games. Since the beginning of the Games, more than half of all Canadians (56 percent) have watched television coverage on CBC/Radio-Canada, with 21 million viewers tuning in on either an English or French TV network to date, and CBC ranking as the most-watched English network in Canada in prime time among audiences aged 25-54 for the first three full days of competition. In addition, Canadians are streaming more content and spending more time on CBC Gem compared to Tokyo 2020.
Beijing 2022 audience highlights:
Friday, Feb. 4 (Day 0):
- CBC’s encore broadcast of the Opening Ceremony was the most-watched program in Canada with an average audience of 943,000 viewers (2+), and peak viewership of 1.2 million viewers at 8:41 p.m. ET when Team Canada entered the stadium.
- Early morning live coverage of the Opening Ceremony drew an average audience of 788,000 (2+) across CBC TV, CBC News Network, TSN, TSN2, Sportsnet and Sportsnet One.
- Digital streams of the live Opening Ceremony on CBC Gem increased by nearly 80 percent compared to the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony.
Saturday, Feb. 5 (Day 1):
- CBC was the most-watched English-language network in Canada in prime time among audiences aged 25-54, with an average audience of over one million (2+) from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m.
- The most-watched moment of the day on CBC was at 9:45 p.m. ET when 1.5 million viewers watched the women’s snowboard slopestyle competition.
Sunday, Feb. 6 (Day 2):
- For the second consecutive night, CBC was the most-watched English-language network in Canada in prime time among audiences aged 25-54, with an average audience of over one million (2+) from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m.
- CBC’s late night programming reached nearly 2.1 million viewers, almost 10 times what the daypart typically reaches.
- The most-watched moment of the day on CBC was at 9:06 p.m. ET when 1.5 million viewers tuned in for the pairs program during the figure skating team event.
Monday, Feb. 7 (Day 3):
- For the third straight day, CBC won the night with viewers aged 25-54, with a total average audience of over one million (2+) from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m.
- The Canada vs USA women’s hockey game drew CBC’s largest-late prime audience to date, with an average audience of 916,000 (2+) and peak viewership of 1.3 million at 12:10 a.m. ET.
- The most-watched moment of the day on CBC was at 10:05 p.m. ET when 1.7 million viewers watched #1 ranked Tess Ledeux’s final run during the Women’s Freestyle Big Air Final.
CBC Gem:
- Canadians are streaming more Beijing 2022 content and spending more time on CBC Gem compared to Tokyo 2020:
- Compared to the same period during Tokyo 2020, video views have increased by 21 percent and total hours have increased by 48 percent, with a total of 1.2 million hours streamed on CBC Gem to date.
- Time spent per user has also increased, up 25 percent over Tokyo
CBC will continue to offer extensive live and encore coverage of Beijing 2022 through to February 20, including the Closing Ceremony. Canadians can visit cbc.ca/beijing2022 or download the CBC Sports App for more information. For the complete TV schedule, click here.
TV Data Source: Numeris TV Meter, Feb 2-7, 2022, CBC Total, P2+ & A25-54, Mo-Su, 2a-2a, Total Canada, AMA and Reach, generated by InfoSys+TV (Unconfirmed, Overnight Data).
Digital Data Source: Adobe Analytics, Feb 2-7 2022, vs July 21-26, 2022. All Olympic content on CBC Gem (Live, On-Demand, Linear)