Shiladan
PARIS (Reuters) – The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics drew 28.6 million U.S. viewers, in accordance with preliminary knowledge from Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal on Saturday, which the corporate stated was essentially the most since London. The very best opening ceremony of the Summer time Olympics was in 2012.
Throughout Friday’s celebrations, a delegation of athletes floated down the Seine River previous Paris landmarks and singer Celine Dion carried out in public for the primary time in years.
It is a essential broadcast occasion for NBCUniversal.
The rankings, which embody NBC and streaming service Peacock, are a boon for broadcasters in contrast with simply 17 million viewers for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Each the 2022 Tokyo and Beijing Olympics characterize a difficult time zone for U.S. audiences and have been affected by the pandemic.
Forward of the Paris Olympics, NBCUniversal has been outspoken about its plans to lure viewers again to the video games. In the course of the present, singer Beyoncé launched Group USA in a video that aired earlier than the U.S. athletes appeared on the river. She was considered one of many celebrities collaborating in NBCUniversal’s protection of the complete Olympics.
It additionally integrates synthetic intelligence expertise into its protection, together with recreating the voice of sports activities commentator Al Michaels.