With the Paris Olympics heading towards the closing ceremony, News Corp Australia has reported a boost in audience numbers across its digital brands and platforms.
During the first ten days of the Paris games, News Corp’s digital news sites, video, social and audio content have resulted in 126 million page views for news.com.au, plus 18 million video plays – up 38% from the Tokyo games. The most popular video to date with 484,000 plays was Michael Phelps reacting to a swim star dominating in the pool.
Lifting 10%, there have been 86 million page views of the digital print editions of The Australian, as well as state and regional mastheads – which include a daily Olympics wrap.
News’ daily Paris newsletters have been opened 420,000 times in the first ten days, and 670 articles have been filed so far by News’ journalists on the ground in Paris, twice the number from Tokyo.
On social platforms, News Corp content has recorded 7 million video views, up 39%, 55 million content impressions, up 18%, as well as 4 million social engagements, up 30%.
There have been 160,000 downloads of the Matty & The Missile in Paris podcast so far, doubling the downloads of the Matty Johns audio feed week-on-week.
News Corp Australia Olympic Editor Mick Carroll said “For the first time, News has brought its entire business together under one umbrella. This whole-of-business approach has allowed us to produce more content, across more platforms, while reaching new audiences.
“From print to digital, video to podcasting and newsletters to social, we have every angle covered. This is one of the most ambitious projects we have undertaken and it is clearly resonating with our audiences.”
Speaking to Mediaweek about News Corp’s Olympic coverage, Tim Morrissey, national deputy sports editor and sports commercial editor, said the company has several key commercial supporters for Paris, including Harvey Norman, Woolworths, Omega, and Asics.
“We are able to help our partners stand out in a traditionally cluttered environment by creating tailor-made solutions giving clients much more meaningful integration, ensuring unrivalled visibility, reach and engagement,” said Morrissey.
See also: CMOlympics: Tim Morrissey on News Corp’s advertisers, games hub, and unified Paris team