The iconic sights of Paris were on full display Friday, July 26, as the city welcomed viewers from around the world for the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony. The innovative production reached outside the standard stadium backdrop to enlist such historical Parisian landmarks as the Eiffel Tower and River Seine to celebrate French history and culture, including many French music artists and songs. 28.6 million U.S. viewers tuned in for the event¹, marking the largest domestic viewership number since the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in London. This summer, the combination of an iconic backdrop and ratings spikes has helped drive large streaming increases for many of the artists that were featured.
Two of the performances that drove the most chatter were that of French metal band Gojira and iconic Canadian artist Celine Dion. Gojira performed the French Revolution standard “Ah! Ça Ira!” while perched on balconies atop the Conciergerie palace with opera singer Marina Viotti. Global audiences immediately took notice and Gojira’s primary artist catalog jumped quickly. Looking at week-over-week splits, Gojira was +278% in Global On-Demand Audio streams, jumping from 3.9 million the week ending 7/25/24 to 14.8 million the week ending 8/1/24. When accounting for both audio and video in Total On-Demand Streaming, the United States grew the most in volume followed by Gojira’s home country of France.
Celine Dion’s primary artist catalog jumped +35.3% the week ending 8/1/24 to a total of 44.4 million Global ODA. Moreover, through Luminate’s Streaming Viewership Model, we can see that the Opening Ceremony performance also drove minutes watched of the I Am: Celine Dion documentary on Amazon Prime Video, reaching 9.6 million minutes watched on Sunday, July 28, 2024 — its highest total since Sunday, July 7, 2024, the second week of the documentary’s release.
Additional French artists to see week-over-week² Global On-Demand Audio streaming gains include Cerrone (+215%), Juliette Armanet (+39%) and Rim’K (+10%). With live performances during the closing ceremonies this past Sunday night, French artists like Phoenix and Americans including Billie Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg could also be in line for sizable streaming jumps given the global audience.
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² Global On-Demand Audio streams week ending 8/1/24 compared to 7/25/24
