Sporting events have long been powerful avenues for brand engagement. While rules in the arena remain the same, digital platforms are reshaping consumer engagement and outreach for brands.
Paris 2024 Olympics stand as one of the biggest global multi-sporting events, especially as it brings back the crowd after the pandemic. Paris’s significance as a centre of commerce and culture also positions 2024 Olympics as a more luxurious opportunity for brands. However, the event stands in a unique light given a period marked by accelerated digital adoption by businesses and consumers.
In this blog, we will review how the Paris 2024 Olympics is claiming the title of ‘most digital Olympics’.
Highest number of digital spectators online and on site
More than 15 million sports enthusiasts and tourists are officially estimated to visit the Paris 2024 Olympics. This is the highest number of in-person attendees when compared to previous Olympics – with only 43,000 visitors seen at Tokyo 2020 and just over a million visitors at Rio 2016.
While the on-site spectator count is higher than ever before, the number of digital spectators also stands at the highest levels
Source: Euromonitor International Passport: Economies and Consumers, 2024 edition
With more than five billion internet users during 2024, 64% of the global population is interacting with multiple digital platforms on a daily basis.
Innovation in fan engagement through digital experiences
The Paris 2024 Olympics developed digital experiences across the fan journey. The official app offering features such as game scheduling, results, medals, and interactive maps, experienced over 21 million downloads during May-July on iOS and Android devices.
Fans from the US, UK and France were the top users on iOS, while Indian, Brazilian and Colombian fans were top Android users
Source: Euromonitor International
According to Euromonitor International’s Voice of the Industry: Digital Survey 2023, 40% of industry professionals stated that augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will impact brand engagement this year. This was realised in the Paris 2024 Olympics, where use of AR remained a highlight. The event’s partnership with Snapchat Inc led to engaging AR filters accessible across digital and physical interfaces through the official app, official posters, competition venues and the streets of Paris.
Connecting with new-generation fans and athletes
During July, the peak fan engagement period, the official Olympics.com site welcomed nearly 231 million visitors.
While Paris 2024 was the first ever Olympics with equal number of male and female athletes, only 38% of the fans visiting Olympics.com were female
Source: Euromonitor International
Social media was key to connecting with new generation fans. With growing importance of user generated content and influencer marketing, Paris 2024 featured the first ever Olympic Creator Programme. Partnering with YouTube, Instagram and Tik Tok, content creators were sponsored to visit official games and share experiences through social media.
Direct athlete to fan interactions remained a spotlight.
US gymnast, Simone Biles is one notable example, having 12.3 million followers on Instagram, whereas official paris2024 account has only 3.4 million followers
Source: Instagram
With five million TikTok followers, Simone’s post ‘Taste the Golden’ received 14.5 million likes and 128 million views (at the time of writing), representing sports influencer’s wild outreach this Olympics.
Heightened digital relevance in a challenging e-commerce landscape
Despite being centre stage for shopper engagement, the digital media landscape is brewing to be competitive in 2024. Thus, Paris 2024’s heightened digital relevance offers a unique opportunity for brands to connect with global consumers.
While marketers think laterally across the path to purchase, capturing right moments is key for conversion. For example, what values resonate in the moment of purchase, platforms or athletes most followed. For brands, avenues to reposition their story in the mind of the consumer are many.
French e-commerce benefited from the Olympics as monthly visitors to Amazon France grew by 13%, resulting in 24 million more visitors in July as compared to June
Source: Euromonitor International
Alibaba-owned Spanish e-commerce marketplace Miravia, launched in 2022, saw a 22% increase in web traffic between March 2024, when it announced its partnership as the official e-commerce service provider for the Olympics, and July 2024.
Procter & Gamble, a long-standing official Olympics sponsor, repositioned its brand portfolio as official products. Head & Shoulders ran a social media campaign in the UK, as the official shampoo for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The campaign featured British athletes 29-year-old swimmer, Adam Peaty, and 22-year-old gymnast, Jake Jarman, on TikTok. The brand experienced 52% and 15% increases in sales on Amazon and Tesco, respectively, in Q2 of 2024 over the same period in 2023.
Read our new report, Digital Disruptors: The Global Competitive Landscape of Social Media, to explore how social media platforms are reshaping digital shopper engagement.