Winter Olympics drives Discovery+ uptake as streaming audiences in first week surpass total viewers for PyeongChang 2018

Discovery’s Cube has evolved significantly from the version used in Tokyo. Bespoke avatars built to closely resemble athletes from specific winter disciplines are able to float in the Cube, so experts can walk around them and analyse the minutiae of movements and performance

Discovery has stated that streaming audiences in the first week of Beijing 2022 have already surpassed the total from PyeongChang 2018, thanks to Discovery+, the broadcaster’s streaming service.

The start of Beijing 2022 has driven massive increases in engagement on discovery+ and Eurosport digital services, as well as strong overall linear viewership across Europe.

Total streaming viewers for Beijing 2022 surpassed the last Olympic Winter Games after only four days of competition, with eight times more viewers streaming compared to the same period for PyeongChang 2018. Total new paid subscribers to Discovery’s streaming services have already surpassed 2018 with a week of competition still to go this year.

Eurosport’s average linear TV audiences remain strong and are in line with the last Olympic Winter Games, despite total TV usage being down more than 10 percent since 2018.

Jean-Briac Perrette, president and CEO, Discovery Streaming and International, said: “The Olympics are off to a strong start across all our platforms, with discovery+ at the forefront of this early success as the growth of our streaming service continues to significantly outperform.

“It is also reaffirming the power and value of integrating sports into our discovery+ entertainment service. As well as attracting a significant number of new discovery+ subscribers, sports broadens its appeal throughout the whole household and provides consumers an even greater, more retentive value proposition. Through just this first week, more than a third of new discovery+ Olympics subscribers have already consumed other entertainment content on the platform.”

Since the start of the Olympics, nearly twice as many people have visited the ad-supported Eurosport.com site, together with its multiple local country versions, compared to the same stage of PyeongChang 2018. The platform has continued to extend its offering and bring fans live updates, news and on-demand video around the Games.