European eyes turn to Olympics

Ratings mixed as events air at odd hours

By JOHN HOPEWELL

Gymnast Li Ning lights the Olympic Flame at the Opening Ceremony.

The women's soccer match between Germany and Nigeria was one of many Olympic events drawing big auds to German pubcaster ARD.

MADRID -- TV audiences all over Europe are tuning into the Beijing Olympics, but the time-zone disparity has yielded uneven results when comparing tune-in with the 2004 Games in Athens.

Although ratings for the Opening Ceremony were high, viewing was generally lower than it was four years ago, except in Spain and Italy.

That's primarily because of timeslots, said Bertrand Villegas at French audience analysis company the Wit. Beijing's Opening Ceremony aired live in Europe mid-afternoon in August, whereas Athens opened during primetime.

Analysts also speculate that lower auds in some countries may reflect uneasiness with the Chinese government's record on human rights.

In Spain, like the U.S., the Opening Ceremony delivered record ratings for a Games held outside the country.

Spanish pubcaster TVE notched a 38.8% share and 4.1 million viewers, 1.2 million higher than Athens in 2004.

The start of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games attracted 5 million-plus viewers for a 62.4% share.

"Spanish results reflect the dramatic immigration-driven growth in Spain's population. Also, Spain has some excellent chances of medals," said Eduardo Garcia Matilla, prexy of audience research company Multimedia Corp.

Spanish sports are on an international roll. Spaniard Rafael Nadal won the Wimbledon tennis tourney in May, the Spanish soccer team triumphed in June in Euro 2008, and cyclist Carlos Sastre took the Tour de France last month.

Also, Garcia Matilla added: "At a time of rapid audience fragmentation, audiences are keen on mass events they can all watch together."

In the U.K., live coverage of the Opening Ceremony averaged an impressive 5 million viewers on BBC1, equivalent to a 51% audience share.

While this was lower than Athens, which averaged 8.6 million viewers, the figures were better than expected, according to BBC sports director Roger Mosey.

With many Brits at work Friday afternoon, some 700,000 people accessed the BBC's coverage online, topping the previous high of 500,000 viewers during a whole day. Also, for the first time, more than 100,000 people simultaneously streamed the video coverage. A further 3.9 million viewers watched an edited rerun of the ceremony in BBC1's "The Games Today."

"I'll make a prediction that the total number of individuals in the U.K. who watch these Games will be at least 30 million over the fortnight," Mosley said. "The encouraging news continued with the audience figures for the first full day of action."

On Saturday, an average audience of 3.4 million watched the BBC's coverage, which ran from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This peaked at 4 million for the men's gymnastics qualifying.

Also enjoying huge success with its coverage, albeit lower than for Athens, was German pubcaster ARD.

Despite widespread criticism of the Chinese government's tactics against journalists and tough security measures, an average 7.7 million viewers followed ARD's live coverage of the Opening Ceremony, resulting in a 52.3% market share. More than 9 million watched the German athletes march onto the field.

On Saturday, ARD's coverage of the swimming competition won a 35% share with 3.9 million viewers, while 3.75 million tuned in to watch the rowing event, generating a 32.9% share.

Gymnastics pulled in 3.47 million (35.6%), the women's soccer match between Germany and Nigeria attracted 3.43 million (40.6%), and the women's handball game between Germany and Brazil managed a 30.4% share with 3.38 million viewers.

Fellow pubcaster ZDF reported the best ratings so far with its Sunday coverage of the rowing competition, which attracted 4.3 million (35.1%), and weightlifting, which garnered a 34.8% share and 4.24 million viewers. In addition, some 3.25 million fans tuned in to watch Germany clobber England 5-1 in the first round of women's field hockey.

Due to the time difference, however, ARD and ZDF are relying heavily on their daily primetime Olympic highlights summary show.

As for France, the Beijing Opening Ceremony drew 4.95 million and a 48.2% share on pubcaster France 2, according to audience measurement company Mediametrie, much lower than the 7.3 million for the Athens Games.

"In France, people aren't used to watching TV in the middle of a sunny day. You have to enjoy the sun because it could rain soon," Villegas said.

The plunge well may reflect a larger discomfort in France over the Chinese government's record on Tibet and civil liberties.

As if to preempt criticism, French President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared in an exclusive interview from Beijing just before the Opening Ceremony, in which he insisted he had brought up human rights issues at a meeting with Chinese president Hu Jintao.

(Dominic Schreiber in London and Ed Meza in Berlin contributed to this report.)