More than 20 million hours of total video was streamed over 17 days of Olympics
Google search volume around the world was dramatically higher during the London Olympics than during Beijing in 2008, it has been revealed, while YouTube video streaming of the Games reached over 20 million hours.
In America, there was a 900 per cent increase in searches for Ryan Lochte, meaning that interest in swimming increased by 25 per cent over al; while Usain Bolt meant Jamaican searches for track and field increased by 40 per cent.
YouTube powered the live stream for NBC Olympics and for the International Olympic Committee’s YouTube Channel, with more than 159 million total video streams and more than 64 million live streams across online, mobile and tablet.
Research carried out with NBC found that of those who watched the game through a second screen, 44 per cent of these used a mobile or tablet.
Richard Keelty, product marketing manager for the UK, said: “Second-screen viewing didn’t seem to diminish participants’ interest in watching the games on TV...in fact, it increased it. People who followed the Games on TV plus one other screen watched 52 per cent more Olympics on TV than those who didn’t; people who followed on two additional screens spent more than twice as much time (105 per cent) with TV.
"And people who watched live streams of events online watched 66 per cent more Olympics on television than people who followed exclusively on TV.”