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More than 90% of Aussies will be watching Olympics online claims study

After years of TV being the back bone of Australian broadcasting, electronic devices will take over during the Rio Olympics with 92% of Australian’s expected to be engaged through their devices according to new research.

Rio 2016 olympics

Programmatic service firm Rocket Fuel looked into where viewers will be tuning into the games during the sporting festival’s two week run.

The survey said people will still flock to their TV’s for the main events, with 66% of Australians expected to use television as their platform top view Olympic-related coverage, but the 13 hour time difference with Rio means 53% will rely on catch-up video.

Those attitudes could pay dividends for Olympic broadcaster Seven Network, which has invested heavily in creating a mobile streaming platform which is likely to have some form of payment element attached to it, for the games which start in August, and the Paralympics in September.

Social media will be an important component of the digital experience with 37% of people saying they would engage with digital content during the games – a major increase on levels seen in London in 2012.

Managing director at Rocket Fuel, JJ Eastwood said: “For the Rio Olympics most viewing is likely to continue to be on the best (and biggest) screen available”.

Swimming, athletics, gymnastics and diving are expected to be the more popular sports with gymnastics and swimming skewing towards females in terms of demographic appeal.

Cycling, rugby 7s, rowing and soccer have a markedly higher interest in males compared to females.

Popular Olympics sports in males and females

More than a third (36%) of Australians said their need to be connected increases while the Olympics is on.

Australian digital engagement will be high during the games with 49% of consumers saying they will keep updated on a wide range of events and sports, regardless of who is competing, through multiple devices.

Thirty-seven per cent of Australians will use the internet more than previous Olympic games with 46% saying the Olympics prompts them to look at content online they usually wouldn’t be interested in.

Australia has the highest interest out of any country in the Rio Olympics with 9 out of 10 Aussies expected to follow the games.

Olympics popular in Australia

The Future of Sports Broadcasting is one of the topics being discussed at Mumbrella’s Sports Marketing Summit on July 28. See the full program and book tickets here.

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