Making history and shattering records: The numbers behind the Paris Paralympics
We are still talking about the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, and rightfully so. At the time, it felt like more people were tuned into the games than ever before. Everyone was talking about it on social media, including past and present Olympians, influencers, celebrities, and world leaders. It was easier to watch the Games as news networks increased their coverage of the events. Now, almost a year since the Paralympic torch was lit, we have the numbers to prove just how many people were watching.
In April of this year, Nielsen Sports (Nielsen), regarded as “the leading source of sports measurement and analytics around the world,” released new research – gathered at the request of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) – that delved into the metrics of success of the Games. According to Nielsen, viewers consumed 763.3 million hours of live coverage. That number is up 83% from the 2020 Tokyo Games (Note: The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games were held in 2021 due to COVID-19. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and IPC still refer to them as the 2020 Games respectively). Moreover, of the nearly 13,000 hours of global media coverage (this includes media rights holders such as NBCUniversal in the US; and global news outlets such as NBC and Peacock and USA Network in the US), nearly 10,500 hours were of live sport (rather than delayed or deferred). Both of those numbers are significant increases from both the Tokyo and Rio Games. In fact, the overall live audience (those who watched the games in real time) increased by over 100% from the 2016 Rio Games. From start to finish the Paris Games saw record breaking viewership with nearly 350 million people tuning in to watch the Opening Ceremony, and almost 200 million people for the Closing, shattering the numbers from prior Games.
In addition, the Paris Paralympic Games made history in that for all 22 sports, there was some form of live coverage made available. Watching sports live, whether in person or via television, is immersive; it’s exciting, electric, and always unpredictable. Watching sports live allows fans to do more than simply see the competition; it gives sports fans an interactive experience— an opportunity to engage, celebrate, and build community in real time with fellow fans and also the athletes.
Para athletics received the most air time, followed by Para swimming, Para table tennis, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball. Nine sports saw record breaking TV audiences, with Para powerlifting and rowing doubling their viewership from the Tokyo Games just three years prior. And, perhaps, most impressively, over a billion people—approximately one-eighth of the current global population—watched Para swimming and Para athletics across the ten days of coverage. And what exactly did they see? They saw Mallory Weggemann of the United States win her second gold medal 200-meter individual medley as her daughter watched from the stands; Clara Fuentes, representing Venezuela, making history as she set a new Paralympic powerlifting record; Hunter Woodhall, also representing the United States, win gold, his first ever gold medal, in the 400m before embracing his wife, Olympian Tara Davis-Woodhall at the finish line; the Netherlands women’s wheelchair basketball team win back-to-back gold on the court, and much, much, much more.
Television was not the only media platform that saw record-breaking audience viewership and engagement. Digital media numbers soared before and during the Paris Games as well. In the two-week period prior to Opening Ceremonies, the IPC digital platforms received 225 million views, an over 400% increase from the same time back in 2021 in the lead up to the Tokyo Games. During the actual Games themselves, videos on the IPC’s digital media platforms received over 300 million views. For reference, that is almost the total population of the United States. Total video engagement, which includes likes, comments, shares, saves and clicks, reached 16.1 million—a significant increase from Tokyo.
In summary, Mike Peters, the CEO of the IPC, said it best:
“Paris 2024 broke pretty much every Paralympic broadcasting record.”
For me, as a disabled woman who considers herself an adaptive athlete and has a lifelong passion for sports that burns as brightly as the Paralympic torch, it is imperative to not only celebrate the record-breaking numbers, but also the history-making talent covering the Games. For the first time ever we saw disabled journalists cover the Paralympic Games in primetime. Consider NBCUniversal, one of the main broadcasters of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the United States. Their coverage was anchored and hosted by a team of journalists and commentators including Sophie Morgan, Lacey Henderson, and Chris Waddell— the network’s first disabled Paralympic hosts.
So, what does this mean? What does this history-making, record-shattering media coverage mean as we look ahead towards Milano Cortina 2026, Los Angeles 2028 and beyond? According to Jon Stainer, Global General Manager of Nielsen Sports:
“This record-breaking amount of consumption for a Paralympic Games is testament to the IPC and broadcasters in continuing to make the Games accessible. It is also a sign of the growing appetite of consumers around the world for Para sport. These figures act as a perfect platform for commercial and fan growth ahead of both the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games and the LA28 Paralympic Games.”
To put it simply: people watch the Paralympics. The Paralympics has an audience that, when given access, will celebrate and share the incredible feats of athleticism and every medal moment. It means that, when provided the opportunity to watch, audiences will get to know and love the Paralympians as athletes and as human beings, just as they get to do during the Olympic Games.
Sources:
https://milanocortina2026.olympics.com/en/news/paris-paralympics-numbers-behind-success
https://www.paralympic.org/news/global-broadcast-coverage-paris-2024-new-benchmarks
