Olympic Games confirmed as the world’s most appealing sports and entertainment event

The findings were part of consumer surveys conducted by Publicis Sport & Entertainment in March 2022 with over 28,000 people aged between 13 and 65 across 16 territories.

Respondents were asked to rate the appeal of leading global and national sports and entertainment events.

Across the age groups, the younger generation were the ones most likely to find the Olympic Games appealing, with the same trend also true for the Olympic Winter Games. There was little difference in appeal for these two Olympic events by gender.

According to the survey, global remains the attribute most closely associated with the Olympic Games, whilst the association with inclusive, equality and fair play saw an increase compared to research conducted after the last Olympic Winter Games, in 2018 in PyeongChang.

And looking to the future, excitement for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 is higher than for any of the other upcoming, major sports events included in the survey.

Almost 9 out of 10 people were able to correctly identify the Olympic rings – making them one of the most recognised symbols in the world. In line with the event, global remains the attribute most closely associated with the symbol. Associations with inclusive and innovative have increased the most since a comparable study was conducted after the last Olympic Winter Games in 2018.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently confirmed that the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 reached a global broadcast audience of more than 2 billion people, according toindependent research conducted on behalf of the IOC by Publicis Sport & Entertainment.

Viewers around the world watched a combined 713 billion minutes of Games coverage on Olympic Media Rights Partners’ channels – an 18 per cent increase compared with PyeongChang 2018, underlining the continued appetite for Olympic broadcast coverage in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

Olympic social media handles also achieved an outstanding 3.2 billion engagements throughout the Games period, attracting more than 11 million new followers across various platforms.

This resulted in Beijing 2022 becoming the most digitally engaged Olympic Winter Games ever.

In a survey conducted amongst Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games athletes, it was clearly demonstrated that participation in the Games was important to them, with 91 per cent stating their motivation was “to compete at the biggest multi-sports event on earth” and 90 per cent revealing a desire “to represent [their] country”.

For more information, see the IOC’s Beijing 2022 Marketing Report.