MediaCorp savours Olympic spirit

Singapore - Last week's opening ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympics was the most watched programme on Channel 5 in 2008 so far, according to figures obtained from MediaCorp.

Figures show the opening ceremony drew ratings of 17.3% viewers aged 15 and above (P15+) and attracted more than 1.65 million viewers aged four and above (P4+). The 17.3% viewership figure is almost six times the 3% P15+ ratings from MediaCorp's broadcast of the Sydney Olympic Games opening ceremony in 2000. MediaCorp ratings for the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympics held in Athens, which is currently five hours behind Singapore time, was 3.8% P15+.

OMD Singapore's MD for SE Asia Jim Goh added that, based on the figures provided by MediaCorp, possible reasons for the high 17.3% P15+ rating was because of "the anticipation of the much-leveraged and highly publicised Beijing Olympics by viewers". "In addition, as there is no time difference between Beijing and Singapore, majority of the viewers were able to catch the opening," he says.

In July, MediaCorp made its intentions to cash in on the Beijing Olympics clear by announcing it would broadcast the Games in high-definition for up to 19 hours a day on HD5. At the time, the company's deputy CEO for television Chang Long Jong told Marketing he was confident Singaporeans would take to the Beijing Games strongly and said "With the same time zone, a lot of the Game events are going to happen right in the time when Singaporeans are able to catch them live". However, a recent survey done by MindShare revealed only 61% of Singaporeans felt the Beijing Olympics was the biggest event of the year.

The survey involved around 3,000 respondents across Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, India, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan, and the Philippines.