With its coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Warner Bros. Discovery has struck gold, reporting record-breaking streaming and viewership numbers across Europe.
Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday, revealed that its coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics attracted a total of 215 million viewers across Europe via its television and streaming platforms. This marks a significant 23 percent increase equivalent to 40 million more viewers compared to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Additionally, Warner Bros. Discovery reported over 7 billion minutes of Olympic content streamed across all platforms during the 2024 Paris Games, a figure six times higher than the total for Tokyo 2020. The peak was reached on Sunday, August 4, when Max and discovery+ subscribers streamed 600 million minutes in a single day. This surge in viewership coincided with key events, including the Men’s 100m final, the last day of swimming competitions, the tennis gold medal match between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz and the women’s road race final in cycling.
WBD CEO and president of global streaming and games JB Perrette, said, “Paris 2024 has exceeded all expectations for fans and audiences and for Max and Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming business. We’ve added millions of new paying subscribers, and engaged millions of viewers daily on streaming who have watched billions of minutes of content during the games. Our streaming growth momentum is only gaining strength, and we’ve still got almost half the global addressable market to go.”
During its Olympics coverage, Warner Bros. Discovery saw a significant boost in subscriber growth with the company reporting a record influx of new paid streaming subscribers throughout the Games representing a 77 percent increase compared to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, although specific figures were not disclosed.
Furthermore, marking the first Games since the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia Warner Bros. Discovery placed significant stakes on the 2024 Paris Olympics. The company strategically launched its stand-alone streaming service, Max, in Europe ahead of the event to leverage the heightened interest.
Notably, Max debuted in 20 European countries on May 21, with a launch in France on June 11. WBD delivered Olympic coverage across 47 markets in 20 languages, using its streaming platforms Max and Discovery+, linear TV, and online through Eurosport channels, as well as free-to-air networks in Norway (TVNorge), Sweden (Kanal 5), and Finland (Kutonen, TV5).