Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) served more than 215 million European television viewers with its transnational coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games from Paris, the entertainment company affirmed this week.
The games were the most-streamed for WBD in history, spurred by the launch of cornerstone streaming service Max in more than two dozen European countries, as well as the distribution of live competitions on Discovery Plus and the legacy TV network Eurosport.
WBD holds the pan-European rights to the Summer Olympic and Winter Olympic Games, which it shares with public service broadcasters in some countries, including the BBC in the United Kingdom, ARD in Germany and France Télévisions in France.
For its competitions, WBD saw more than 7 billion minutes streamed across Max and Discovery Plus. The Olympic Games reached more than 215 million Europeans, a figure that was 23 percent higher compared to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo (which were delayed to 2021 because of the coronavirus health pandemic).
WBD said paid subscribers within the first four days of the event exceed all sign-ups to its streaming services for the entirety of the 2020 Summer Games. Three years ago, few European countries had access to Max, then known as HBO Max, with Discovery Plus being the main streaming platform on the continent.
The biggest day for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games was August 4, when WBD logged more than 600 million minutes streamed across its digital platforms. That day featured a high-profile tennis match, the final day of swimming-related events and a women’s cycling competition.
