Viacom18 Achieves Record-Breaking Olympics Presentation and Streaming

In their debut Olympics broadcast, Viacom18's Paris 2024 coverage set a new benchmark for Olympic presentations in India, achieving the highest viewership ever across both linear and digital platforms. Over 170 million viewers tuned into JioCinema and Sports18 Network, accumulating a record-breaking watch time of over 1500 crore minutes, with more people engaging with Olympic content for longer periods than ever before in India.

For the first time, Olympics coverage in India was offered across 20 simultaneous feeds on JioCinema for free, allowing fans to watch their favorite events and Indian performances anytime and on any device. This comprehensive coverage made it the most-watched Olympics ever. The 17 sport-specific feeds and three curated feeds, all available in 4K, enabled viewers to follow the top athletes in action at Paris 2024.

On linear platforms, Sports18 - 1 and Sports18 - 1 HD featured an India-focused feed, while Sports18 - 3 provided global action coverage. Sports18 - 1 and Sports18 - 1 HD broadcast the Games in English, with Tamil and Telugu available via the language button, while Sports18 - 2 offered the Paris 2024 coverage in Hindi.

"Paris 2024 is a prime example of how non-cricket sporting action is continuing to grow in adoption amongst Indian audiences. Both the viewership scale and the enthusiastic advertiser participation bear testimony to that. Our Olympic coverage was not just a world-class production, it allowed viewers to watch the action with studio experts (former Olympians), with commentary in local languages, along with compelling storytelling, and fascinating live and non-live coverage of every event across two weeks" said Viacom18 - Digital CEO Kiran Mani.

"Our endeavor is to constantly enhance the sports viewing experience, engaging sports fans across all screens and for longer, while giving advertisers the avenues and opportunities to reach their consumers most effectively," he added.

The innovations in the digital viewing experience for Paris 2024 democratized access to the pinnacle of sports in an unprecedented way. Viacom18 presented the Olympics in four languages with an expert panel of former Olympians like never before, along with the biggest ever on-ground coverage of the event by an Indian broadcaster with a crew of 20-plus people and ground presence across six venues. To top it up, presenting the Games with educative and exciting commentary and content that captured all the emotion and effort attached to each sport expanded user interest.The immersive coverage tipped off with a dedicated camera feed on the India float throughout the Opening Ceremony giving viewers a ring-side view of the Indian contingent. In addition, viewers enjoyed the coverage of India's glorious moments with live interviews alongside a domain expert from the studio. The Opening Ceremony was made available across Sports18 Network, Colors Network, VH1 and MTV besides being free on JioCinema.

For advertisers, the extensive coverage provided a unique opportunity to connect with a highly engaged and diverse audience. A record 69 brands took advantage of the chance to associate with the Olympics, leading to a 2.6x increase in advertising revenue compared to the previous edition. Co-Presenting Partners for the Viacom18 broadcast included Reliance Foundation, SBI, and JSW, while Coca-Cola India Limited and Herbalife served as Associate Partners. Other major advertisers included RBI, AMFI, Aditya Birla Capital, Air India, Bacardi Martini India Limited, and MRF. The Paris 2024 broadcast featured innovative advertising assets such as Split Screen ads, 4-sided Squeeze Backs, and contextual elements like Super Start, Winning Moment, Super Saves, and Branded Tabs on Medal Tally and Schedule, enhancing brand visibility during key Indian moments and strengthening the association with the event.