The opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics on Friday has attracted more BBC viewers than the last two games, figures show.
About 6.8 million people watched the coverage on BBC One, between 5.45pm and 10.40pm, as Canadian singer Celine Dion performed French singer Edith Piaf’s L’Hymne A L’Amour at the Eiffel Tower.
It was Dion’s first public performance since she disclosed that she is living with the rare condition stiff person syndrome, in December 2022.
The event was hit by heavy rain. French pianist Alexandre Kantorow, French musicians Sofiane Pamart and Juliette Armanet, and a catwalk show featuring Drag Race France host Nicky Doll, were soaked during their appearances.
French footballer Zinedine Zidane, tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams all carried the Olympic torch.
Earlier in the show US star Lady Gaga sang Zizi Jeanmaire’s classic Mon Truc En Plumes, and the ceremony ended with a hot air balloon being lit as the cauldron for the Olympic flame.
According to the overnight figures, the BBC said there was a peak of 7.9 million people tuning in.
It is the first games since London 2012, when 22.4 million viewers watched the opening ceremony, without a large time difference, as France is just an hour ahead of the UK.
There was a four-hour time difference for the Brazil games, which kicked off at midnight in Britain and had an average of 3.8 million viewers.
A peak live audience of 2.3 million reportedly watched the BBC during Tokyo 2020, which took place in the middle of the day in the UK, and with no crowds in the Japanese stadiums because of Covid restrictions.
However, the BBC’s coverage of the Olympics has been limited in recent years because of a TV deal secured by Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) in 2015.
The company bought the European TV rights for the Olympic Games for 1.3 billion euros (£1.09 billion), which means it has blanket pick-and-choose live coverage of every sport.
As the Olympics is a protected event under UK law, a national broadcaster is allowed to show the games on one linear channel and one digital channel.
On Saturday, social media users voiced their frustration that the semi-finals of the men’s 100 metres breaststroke, featuring 2016 and Tokyo 2020 champion Adam Peaty, a former Strictly Come Dancing contestant, did not seem to be covered in real time.
