Tokyo Olympics clocked 69 million viewers, 5.8 billion viewing minutes in opening week on TV

Mirabai Chanu Saikhom of India competes in the women's 49kg weightlifting event, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 24, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

India recorded strong viewership numbers for the recently ended Tokyo Olympics on TV.

According to TV measurement body Broadcast Audience research Council (BARC) data, 69 million viewers in India watched Tokyo Olympics in its opening week.

The 2020 Olympics was aired by official broadcaster Sony Pictures along with Doordarshan.

The games had commenced on July 23 and went on till August 8.

India saw its best ever medal tally in Olympics 2020 with team India winning seven medals.

This time India also scored a gold medal thanks to javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra.

Other Olympic medal winners include men's hockey team, badminton player PV Sindhu, weight lifter Mirabai Chanu, wrestlers Ravi Dahiya and Bajrang Punia and boxer Lovlina Borgohain.

Overall, team India brought home one gold, two silver and four bronze medals.

On TV, the Tokyo Olympics recorded 5.8 billion viewing minutes, the BARC data noted.

The data further pointed out the top five regions that contributed to Olympics 2020 viewership.

Assam/North East topped the list with an overall share of 27.7 percent followed by a distant second Maharashtra/Goa with 11.5 percent share in the overall TV viewership for the 2020 Olympics.

In the third position is Tamil Nadu/Pondicherry with 8.8 percent viewership share, followed by Uttar Pradesh/Uttarakhand with 6.3 percent and Kerala with 5.8 percent.

Along with TV, the 2020 Olympics also caught attention of the OTT (over the top) platform viewers.

SonyLIV, the video streaming platform that had the digital streaming rights of Tokyo Olympics witnessed a 3x increase in viewership since the beginning of sporting events like India’s tour of Sri Lanka in mid-July and the Olympics.

It roped in over 100 advertisers for India’s tour of Sri Lanka and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The list of sponsors included brands like Maruti Suzuki, LIC, JSW (Jindal Steel), WazirX, Vimal, Swiggy Betway, Fresh to Home and MPL.