Some 7.5 million people tune in for closing ceremony of London Olympics
August 13, 2012 - 7:37 PM
TORONTO - The closing ceremony was Canada's most-watched event of the London Olympics.
An average of 7.5 million people tuned in to Sunday's broadcast of the Summer Games finale.
That was more than the 6.4 million Canadians who watched the opening ceremony.
Usain Bolt's run to gold in the 100 metres was Canada's most-watched sports event with an average of 6.2 million tuning in to both the English and French broadcasts of the Aug. 5 race.
The controversial women's soccer semifinal between Canada and the U.S. was second with an average of 3.1 million tuning in.
Canada's Olympic broadcast consortium said 31.9 million viewers tuned in to TV coverage between July 27 and Aug. 12.
That's up from the 24 million who watched the 2008 Beijing Olympics on CBC.
While the Canadian ratings for London outpaced the Beijing Games four years ago, it's difficult to compare the two because a new ratings measurement system was introduced in 2009 that has seen sports TV ratings skyrocket.
The broadcast consortium said 3.4 million hours of content was viewed at CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca, while more than 1.1 million mobile apps were downloaded.
The broadcast consortium comprised CTV, RDS, TSN, Sportsnet, OMNI.1, OMNI.2, OLN, V, ATN, CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012