New Canadian stars help draw record Olympic viewership
9 in 10 Canadians tuned in to the Summer Olympics with CBC
When Andre De Grasse lined up against Usain Bolt for the men's 200-metre final, 7.2 million people turned to CBC to watch Canada's new superstar take on the world's greatest sprinter.
The 7.2-million figure was the largest single audience during the now-concluded 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. This summer Team Canada and its new stars grabbed the attention of Canadians like never before.
"The best athletes from Canada and around the world inspired us day after day in Rio and it was our privilege to share these moments of triumph and heartbreak with so many Canadians," said CBC Sports executive director Greg Stremlaw.
Over the span of the 17-day event, more Canadians than any previous Summer Games followed the storylines of the world's sports stars. Between CBC and its french-language station Radio-Canada, coverage of the Games reached 32.1 million people, equal to nearly nine in 10 Canadians.
CBC's digital properties generated 229 million total page views and nearly 37 million video views. In total, Canadians watched 626 million aggregate minutes—over a millennium—of live and streamed video online.
"CBC/Radio-Canada is proud to be Canada's Olympic Network through 2024, and to continue to shine a spotlight on these athletes and their stories at the Games and also year-round through our weekly coverage of high-performance sport," Stremlaw said.
Other high points of the Games included Penny Oleksiak's 200-metre freestyle gold and De Grasse's 100-metre showdown against Bolt, which attracted 4.3 and 5.3 million viewers, respectively.
CBC holds the rights to broadcast the Olympics in Canada through 2024.