Sport was in the spotlight in France this year: the first ten places in the top 100 best television audiences in 2024 revealed by Médiamétrie are… sporting events thanks to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and the Euro football.
Games at home and on our televisions. According to the ranking of the best audiences carried out by Médiamétrie and published by Puremédias on Friday, the two most watched events on television in 2024 were the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paris Olympic Games.
On July 26, 24.42 million viewers and 83.1% of the public aged four and over watched the launch of the Olympics in front of their screens, representing not only the best audience of the year but also the best score ever achieved on television. Two weeks later, an average of 17.9 million people were there for the closing of the biggest global event.
The opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games and the golden evening of Léon Marchand, author of an unprecedented 200m butterfly-200m breaststroke double on July 31, also appear in the top 10. A top 10… 100% sporting, in which we find five matches of the French football team during the Euro, including the semi-final lost against Spain, which completes the podium (16.1 million viewers).
Sport, the most represented genre in the top 100
And the domination of sport does not stop there since it is quite simply the genre most represented in the top 100 with 37 sporting events, all combined, in the ranking ahead of French fiction (33 references). Among them: the “pre-match” of the semi-final of the Euro Spain-France (12th, 9.6 million), the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games (20th, 7.9 million) or even the friendly match rugby between France and New Zealand on November 16 (29th, 7.6 million).
Last year, 38 sporting events appeared in the top 100 best audiences, but fiction was the most represented genre with 42 references.
The top 10 audiences in 2024:
- Opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic GamesFriday July 26 (France 2): 24.4 million viewers – 83.3% of the public aged four and over
- Closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic GamesSunday August 11 (France 2): 17.9 million – 76.7%
- Spain-France, Euro 2024 footballTuesday July 9 (TF1): 16.1 million – 60.2%
- Portugal-France, Euro 2024 football, Friday July 5 (M6): 12.7 million – 57.2%
- Austria-France, Euro 2024 football, Monday June 17 (TF1): 11.3 million – 46.9%
- France-Belgium, Euro 2024 football, Monday July 1 (TF1): 11 million – 56.2%
- Opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Wednesday August 28 (France 2): 10.5 million – 52.4%
- Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Sunday August 11 between 8:36 p.m. and 8:55 p.m. (France 2): 10.2 million – 52.3%
- Netherlands-France, Euro 2024 football, Friday June 21 (M6): 10.2 million – 46.6%
- Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Wednesday July 31 between 8:208 p.m. and 11:09 p.m. (France 2): 9.7 million – 46.3%
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