Games break domestic viewership records

Special: 2022 Winter Olympics

Beijing 2022 has already become the most-viewed Winter Olympics ever in China, with Chinese freeskier Gu Ailing's gold-winning run ranking among the most popular moments.

After the fourth day of competitions, livestreaming and digital content viewerships are also growing globally, Olympic Broadcasting Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos said at a news briefing on Thursday. He did not provide detailed figures or demographic analyses, saying that broadcasters can decide whether to release such information.

New York-based National Broadcasting Company also reported that its video-streaming platform Peacock has delivered its best-ever six-day usage covering the Beijing Winter Olympics, according to OBS.

Exarchos highlighted Gu's victory in the women's Big Air final on Tuesday as one of the most-watched moments of Beijing 2022 so far.

"I don't want to distinguish that much, but it's pretty evident that the Big Air and Eileen Gu (Ailing) moment is the one that has a huge media impact around the world－obviously in China, but it's a worldwide phenomenon," the Greek producer said.

"It was an incredible competition, an incredible narrative. The atmosphere was fantastic. The images were good, and obviously Eileen Gu is an athlete who really would be one of the icons of these Games."

Exarchos also pointed out that figure skating, featuring such international stars as Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu, and Alpine skiing are also attracting healthy viewing figures during Beijing 2022.

OBS is enhancing its Beijing 2022 coverage with diverse behind-the-scenes stories, features and interviews, Exarchos explained.

"We will be delivering to our rights-holding broadcasters more than 6,000 hours of content," he said.

"The competitions amount to fewer than 1,000 hours, so all this additional content is really content that is geared toward feeding the needs of digital broadcasting."

China's advanced-transmission technology and internet infrastructure have greatly facilitated broadcasters' work, according to Exarchos.

"Here in China, as was to a very big extent also in Japan, we benefit from the fact that we are dealing with an environment which is very advanced on the technology front. China is probably one of the most mature countries in terms of the use of 5G," he added.

"In Beijing, (compared to Pyeongchang 2018) we have a 32 percent less physical presence of broadcasters, which is enabled primarily by using virtual and cloud-based workflows."