FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nothing brings the Olympics to the forefront of the world stage like the Opening Ceremony and this year millions of people streamed the event, contributing to a 349% increase in streaming viewership as compared to the 2018 Opening Ceremony day according to new data from Conviva, the continuous measurement platform for streaming media. 71% of streaming viewership was captured in the middle two hours of the ceremony, due largely in part to the brevity of this year’s event.
“The 2022 Winter Olympics is prime for streaming viewership both on the day of the event and in the weeks following as people tune in when it is convenient for them,” said Keith Zubchevich, President & CEO, Conviva. “The good news is streaming quality and technology is keeping up with this demand, making streaming a preferable way to experience a live event.”
Quality Mixed; Devices Surprise
Streaming quality for the 2022 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony saw quality improvements in many areas, with 4% fewer start failures and a .2% higher picture quality on the day of the Opening Ceremony as compared to an average Friday. That said, start times and buffering continued to be a challenge.
Tablets accounted for 28% of streaming device share for the Opening Ceremony, which is surprising compared to Conviva data showing tablets had only 5% of viewing time globally in Q4 2021. Big screens, which include smart TVs, connected TV devices, and gaming consoles, accounted for nearly half of the Opening Ceremony viewing time.
Social Engagement Matches Streaming Spike
Social engagement mirrored streaming growth for the 2022 Winter Olympics with official Olympic committee accounts from over 120 countries seeing a 370% increase as compared to the six weeks before the Games. Twitter led all social platforms in volume of content posted, accounting for 37%, while Instagram delivered the most engaged audience with 66% of all engagements for Olympic committee accounts in the week leading up to the Winter Olympics.
Team USA had the top-performing Facebook post thus far, with its post highlighting the first Indigenous woman to play for USA Hockey, as well as the top Twitter post, celebrating figure skater Nathan Chen.
Download the full report here.
Methodology
Data for Conviva’s 2022 Winter Olympics report was primarily collected from Conviva’s proprietary Stream Sensor technology currently embedded in nearly four billion streaming video applications, measuring in excess of 500 million unique viewers watching 200 billion streams per year with nearly three trillion real-time transactions per day across more than 180 countries. The report includes data from Conviva’s publisher base collected on February 4, 2022, the date of the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, both at a global scale and including only publishers streaming the Olympics. Data comparisons include global benchmarks of the previous 90 days as well as the opening ceremony of the 2018 Olympics. The social media data consists of data from TikTok, collected February 4, 2022, as well as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube collected from Conviva’s Social Insights Leaderboard - Olympic Committee, which included over 170 accounts, 21,000 posts, and over 13 million engagements between December 18th, 2021 and February 4th, 2022.
About Conviva
Conviva is the census, continuous measurement and engagement platform for streaming media. Powered by our patented Stream Sensor™ and Stream ID™, our real-time platform enables marketers, advertisers, tech ops, engineering and customer care teams to acquire, engage, monetize and retain their audiences. Conviva is dedicated to supporting brands like CCTV, DAZN, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, Sky, Sling TV, TED and WarnerMedia as they unlock the incredible opportunity in streaming media. Today our platform processes nearly 3 trillion streaming data events daily, supporting more than 500 million unique viewers watching 200 billion streams per year across 4 billion applications streaming on devices. Conviva ensures digital businesses of all sizes can stream better—every stream, every screen, every second. To learn more, visit www.conviva.com.
