Record audience for London 2012’s opening ceremony
LONDON, July 30 — The Olympics opening ceremony was watched by record numbers of viewers in the UK, the US and France.
Fireworks light up the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games in London on July 28, 2012. — AFP/RelaxnewsStaged by Oscar winner Danny Boyle, the ceremony, which aired on the BBC on Friday, July 27, drew in 22.4 million Brits. The British network said it was the highest TV audience since 1998 and the most watched Olympics opening ceremony in at least 20 years. Of people who were watching TV in Britain on July 27, 82.5 per cent were tuned in to the ceremony.
Across the pond, it was American network NBC that had the rights to air the show. It was also a hit with viewers: 40.7 million of them tuned in, beating the previous record set by the opening ceremony of the 1996 Games in Atlanta, which drew in 39.8 million viewers.
In France, more than half of TV viewers (57 per cent) followed the show on local network TF1, live from Stratford's Olympic Stadium. The network released its own figures, which show that 11.4 million French viewers tuned in. — AFP/Relaxnews
