The BBC has confirmed that its digital coverage of the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro reached 102.3 million unique global browsers – a record for the UK public-service broadcaster.
Of that figure, 68.3 million browsers came from the UK. The BBC covered the Games digitally via the BBC Sport website and mobile application; the Red Button+ interactive service on interactive televisions; the BBC Sport 360 service and the BBC iPlayer on-demand service.
The day that generated the most digital traffic was August 14, which was dubbed ‘Super Sunday’ after Team GB picked up five gold medals across gymnastics, golf, cycling and tennis.
The most-streamed events were Andy Murray’s tennis final against Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro (1.9 million streams); the opening ceremony on August 5 (one million); Murray’s and Heather Watson’s first round mixed doubles match against David Ferrer and Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain (one million); the men’s cycling road race, which featured Chris Froome (one million); and the eighth day of action on August 13 (900,000).
The BBC Sport 360 service, which was launched on August 4 ahead of the start of the Games, proved to be a success, gathering over one million views across all platforms. The service provided 360-degree video coverage of the action and was available through a dedicated trial app on Android, iOS and Samsung Gear VR devices.
Sport 360 coverage was also available online through the BBC Taster platform allowing people to try, rate and give feedback to help the BBC learn from the experimental service.
The BBC said 39 million unique browsers engaged with its coverage of the London 2012 Olympics.