With multiplatform transmission, the competition took over the digital world with memes and a community effort for the athletes
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games ended on August 11, with Brazil occupying 20th place in the overall ranking, totaling 20 medals, three gold, seven silver and 10 bronze.
As one of the most anticipated sporting events, the days of competition were marked by several moments that mixed the most diverse feelings, such as anger, joy, emotion and frustration.
According to Ponto Map’s analysis, between July 24 and 30, public opinion led the posts about the mega sporting event, with 52% impact and 76% positivity. In total, there were 2.4 million posts since the beginning of May, coming from 701 thousand different publishers, with 95% of them being made in July alone.
The fact is that expectations for the Paris Olympics were huge due to the proposal that was presented to sports lovers. For the first time in history, the opening of the competition did not take place inside a stadium, but in the middle of the city. In addition, the presentation of the delegations was also innovative and took place on the Seine River, which was the target of criticism throughout the competition due to the quality of the water, which caused the triathlon event to be postponed.
“The Paris Games were a milestone of overcoming, creativity, courage and emotion, from the grand and complex opening ceremony to the moments of glory in the competitions. The opening, which skillfully blended tradition and innovation (on and offline), set the tone for an event that celebrated both the past and the future. Was there criticism? Yes, but from the perspective of experience marketing, the focus should be restricted to the details of the shows, the occupation of public spaces or the torch rituals and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron,” said Heloísa Santana, executive president of AMPRO.
MULTIPLATFORM STREAMING
In addition to the traditional television broadcast via Globo, the Paris Olympics featured, for the first time, online broadcast on CazéTV, which produced almost 800 hours of live content, programs and replays of the games.
According to data presented by Datafolha, 57% of the 893 people interviewed said they watched the competition on open TV, compared to 14% on closed TV, 13% on YouTube and 9% on social media.
In the case of CazéTV, on YouTube alone, the channel has recorded 216 million hours watched since July 24, when the Olympic broadcasts began. On Samsung TV+, another 17 million hours were recorded. According to LiveMode, adding up the views from all platforms (YouTube, Linkedin and TikTok) the coverage ended with 5 billion views.
According to Guilherme Lenz Cesar, head of advertising sales at LiveMode, 18 brands were involved in the channel’s Olympic project. “Our broadcasts and the work connected to them on social media have become a great activation platform for these brands. We are happy to have the freedom to be creative and use our language in the sponsored productions,” he added.
Globo reported that 140.4 million people were reached by its Olympic content, which was divided between free-to-air, cable and digital TV. According to the company, TV Globo reached more than 81% of Brazilian homes throughout the competition and the audience for the Paris Olympic Games surpassed that of Tokyo 2020 by 10%.
Regarding Sportv, the pay TV channel broadcast more than 1,200 hours of content and the audience of its channels was 3 times higher than the combined audience of other sports broadcasters. In digital, combining GE and Globoplay, the volume of hours consumed during the Olympics was twice as high as in Tokyo 2020.
In total, the broadcaster had 17 sponsoring brands for the broadcast. On TV Globo, Claro, Corona, Nivea, Piracanjuba, Banco do Brasil and Superbet secured space, while Sportv had KTO, XP Investimentos and Netshoes.
In addition, eight other brands were part of the participation quotas and in the Top 5”, namely P&G, Unilever, McCain, Suzano, Havaianas, Petrobras, Samsung and Zurich.
RISE OF ATHLETES
Social media played a crucial role throughout the competition and, through it, the athletes saw their follower numbers increase.
The campaign, led by CazéTV, reached more than 30 athletes, including Gabriela Moneschi, goalkeeper for the Brazilian handball team, who went from 23,000 to 340,000 followers, and gymnast Julia Soares, who went from 90,000 to more than two million followers.
The same happened with Caio Bonfim, an athlete who won the silver medal in race walking, who before the competition had around 12 thousand followers and, over the course of the Olympics, this number rose to more than 400 thousand.
In general, the analysis carried out by NetCos showed that Rebeca Andrade was the athlete who most increased her follower base, followed by Flavia Saraiva and Beatriz Souza. The survey was carried out between July 26 and August 12.
Social media has also made the Brazilian Olympic Committee the fastest growing committee on social media, gaining more than 2.5 million followers across all media, with an overall increase of 42%, a reach of 72 million engagements and more than 1 billion impressions.
“We strongly believe in the potential of Olympic Sports in Brazil and we know how much a well-executed social media operation can enhance the strength of the Committee in the short and long term. We established a language that is close to the target audience, focusing on interaction with fans and a more light-hearted and youthful positioning,” explained Bruno Brum, CMO of End to End, the agency responsible for managing the COB’s social media in partnership with the committee’s communications department.
Brazilian fans also played a key role in increasing conversations about the Olympics on social media. Returning to the analysis carried out by Ponto Map, between July 24 and 30, Ponto Map found an exponential increase in the number of posts on social media, with a 6,083% growth in the moving average, rising from 4,500 to 278,000.
The data also showed that the period related to games was responsible for 76% of the total posts and, in addition, there was also an increase in unique publishers, which jumped from 221 thousand to 698 thousand in the period evaluated.
“The highlight of this edition was the role of social media. They not only brought athletes closer to their fans, but also amplified the stories of overcoming obstacles, victories and challenges faced throughout the competition. Real-time interaction and digital mobilization provided an unprecedented global connection, transforming the Games into an experience shared by billions of people around the world. It was yet another global event where live marketing was very present,” highlighted Heloisa.
OLYMPIC BRANDS
Ponto Map also presented a study in partnership with the V-Tracker platform that pointed out the brands that were most associated with the games and Nike, Coca-Cola and Adidas were unanimous among interviewees from all social classes.
“The presence of sponsors was approved by 60% of Brazilians, with a focus on generation Z – those born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s,” said Giovanna Masullo, CEO of the company.
The survey also revealed that 58% of people admitted that sponsorship somehow influences their purchasing decisions, demonstrating the importance of investment in marketing and brand interaction with the public across different media channels.
In the brand ranking, the sports sector led with 30%, followed by the beverage sector, with 21%, finance with 12% and technology, 6%.
