NBCUniversal has pushed a significant amount of its 2021 Tokyo Olympics coverage to Peacock, its ad-supported streaming service, and it's driving demand for the app.
According to analytics firm App Annie, Peacock has seen a 60% bump in U.S. app downloads during the first week of the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
“The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are games like no other. With Covid restrictions in place and fans barred from the stadiums, the need for mobile apps to stay connected with favorite athletes and watch competitions has skyrocketed,” said Lexi Sydow, head of marketing insights at App Annie. “The Olympics are a tentpole event that drive meaningful engagement with consumers around the world — and mobile is at the heart of engagement, this year more than ever.”
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In addition to a surge in Peacock downloads in the U.S., this year’s Games have also driven Eurosport to grow 1040% in Europe and NHKプラス to grow 510% in Japan.
According to Conviva, a company that specializes in streaming and social media data and analytics, streaming activity for Friday’s opening ceremony spiked at 279% over the 2018 opening ceremony. Along with growth in time spent streaming, the company also recorded quality gains—35% fewer start failures, 7% less buffering and 1% higher bitrate than average—for this year’s festivities.
NBCUniversal said the opening ceremony this year drew approximately 17 million viewers in the U.S., down 36% from 2016, but the streaming audience on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app was up 76% compared with the 2018 opening ceremony and 72% compared to the same event in 2016.