TORONTO – Team Canada’s record-setting performance at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 helped to drive viewing audiences for CBC/Radio-Canada, the public broadcaster said Tuesday.
Between the Opening Ceremony on February 9 and the Closing Ceremony on February 25, 31 million Canadians (more than 85% of the population) tuned in to watch CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of the PyeongChang 2018 across all English and French television network partners, digital platforms and the CBC/Radio-Canada Olympics apps.
CBC’s English-language primetime coverage across all broadcast networks throughout the Games garnered a 2+ average minute audience of over 3 million viewers, with CBC alone capturing a 24% primetime audience share.
Despite the 14- to 17-hour time difference, the number of Canadians watching television increased by almost one-fifth for the periods of overnight (+16%), morning (+19%) and late morning (+16%) during the Games, as compared to the regular television season. Audiences for CBC’s overnight coverage of the Games alone were 767% higher than its average overnight block.
The most-watched moment of the Games was February 19 (Day 10) when 5.7 million viewers tuned in to see Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s gold-medal winning ice dance free skate performance.
Over the course of PyeongChang 2018, CBC/Radio-Canada and partner networks TSN, RDS and Sportsnet offered more than 3,100 hours of coverage across broadcast and digital platforms.
“Canadians love their winter sports and CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of PyeongChang 2018 brought them every breathtaking medal moment on the platform of their choice, no matter what schedule they were on,” said Greg Stremlaw, CBC Sports executive director and GM and chef de mission for CBC/Radio-Canada's coverage of PyeongChang 2018. “Team Canada came out in full force at these Games, and CBC/Radio-Canada is honoured to have brought their peak performances home to Canadians. We look forward to continuing to follow the athletes’ journeys through our year-round coverage of high-performance sport.”
