The 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris saw a significant amount of interest on Channel 4’s broadcast and streaming platforms in the United Kingdom, the media company affirmed this week.
Around 20 million households watched some or all of the Paralympic Games during its 11-day run, which started in late August with the Paralympic Opening Ceremony and ended with the Closing Ceremony this past Sunday.
Channel 4 secured a total audience share of 8.8 percent, up 23 percent from the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games from Tokyo, which were delayed to the following year due to the global coronavirus health pandemic. The audience was also 74 percent higher compared to the same 11-day period in 2023, the network said.
Related: Special coverage of the 2024 Summer Games
Viewers watched a total of 7.3 billion minutes of Paralympic Games coverage on Channel 4’s broadcast channels and streaming platform, the latter of which is also — and confusingly — called Channel 4. YouTube was the biggest digital distribution platform for Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Games, with 2.4 million live streamed minutes and 2.1 million on-demand streaming minutes logged.
On TikTok, 30 million views were recorded to Channel 4’s accounts for Paralympics coverage, while Instagram logged 6.6 million views, the network said.
Channel 4 holds the exclusive rights to the Paralympic Games in the U.K. The event takes place about two weeks after the Closing Ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games, whose rights are held in the U.K. and Europe by Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and sublicensed to main public service broadcasters. In the U.K., WBD shares telecast rights to the Summer Olympics with the BBC.
