London Olympic Games boost FTV’s ratings

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 21-08-2012

Hosting the Games for the French market, PSB Group France Télévisions’ retransmissions were watched by 40 000 viewers for at least one hour over the two-week period.

Between 28 July and 11 August, France 2 was ahead of TF1 almost daily. The group’s four channels, which also include France 3, France 4 and France Ô, were set to broadcast 307 hours of programmes.

The swimming events had the highest audience figures during the first week, while athletics and handball drove the second. On 5 August, France 2’s ratings peaked for Usain Bolt’s 100m final, with ten million viewers. France 3 broke its daytime audience record on 9 August, when it garnered 21.7% audience share, its best figure since 2006, according to Médiamétrie.

On the web side, France Télévisions portal attracted 20 million unique visitors over two weeks, and a daily average of one million.

France Télévisions acquired the Olympics TV rights for €55 million and spent €10 million more for production.

However, the ad revenues - expected to reach €10 million, but estimated by Publicis Group to be €7 million - will certainly not cover all the costs.

According to Kantar Media, gross TV ad revenues from the Olympics reached €14.6 million invested on France 2, France 3 and TF1. The French private channel had acquired the rights to opening and closing ceremonies for €12 million. Sponsoring excluded, French sponsors such as Coca-Cola, EDF and Française des jeux, poured €12 million into France 2 and France 3’s ad slots.