The Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee: Conveying the Olympic Spirit to the World

“So far, the number of Chinese viewers watching the Beijing Winter Olympics on television has exceeded the total number of spectators at the PyeongChang and Sochi Winter Olympics,” said Timo Lumme, the managing director of Television and Marketing Services at the IOC, at a press conference jointly held by the IOC and the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee on February 16, while briefing Chinese and foreign journalists on the overall broadcast of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Mr. Lumme noted that they broadcast the Winter Olympics globally, and viewers can tune in on different platforms in each country. The coverage hours of the Beijing Winter Olympics have now reached an historic high, with more viewers than all previous Winter Olympic Games.

At the press conference, Timo elaborated on the viewership of broadcast on the Beijing Winter Olympics in different countries. He said that Chinese viewers have paid very close attention to the Games, with the number of viewers equal to the total worldwide for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. In Japan, viewers continued to maintain a high level of interest in the events as well. “Eight out of every 10 people watched the Winter Olympics, and the overall number of viewers exceeded 140 million,” clarified Timo.

Australia is not a country that excels in winter sports, but the viewing of the Winter Olympics this year has been astonishing. Timo noted that more than 40% of Australians watched the Beijing Winter Olympics.

“NBC’s Olympic coverage in North America continues to dominate the prime time. As of February 11, the platform achieved 100 consecutive days of evening prime-time broadcasts since the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics,” Timo said, adding that the situation was similar in Canada, where more than half of the population watched the Beijing Winter Olympics on the CBC.

In this regard, Zhao Weidong, spokesman for the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, noted that the Olympic Games are not only an arena for competitive sports, but also a “media feast” for sports fans around the world. He expressed the hope that with the joint efforts of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee and the global media partners of Olympic Broadcasting Services, the Olympic spirit will be conveyed to every corner of the world.

Article contributed by Fan Zichuan and Liu Xiyao