Tag Archives: Eurosport

Entertainment

Olympics Supercharges Max Streaming Growth in Europe

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Warner Bros. Discovery is Max-ing out on the Olympics.

Over the primary 5 days of the Paris Olympics, viewership and subscriber progress on WBD’s Max streaming platform in Europe has outpaced expectations, boding nicely for the streamer’s prospects because it expands its continental footprint.

Official figures, equipped to The Hollywood Reporter, present that, thus far, greater than 4 million viewing subscribers have tuned in for the Paris Olympics on Max and WBD’s Discovery+ platform in Europe. Seventy-seven % of these have been on Max. Throughout all platforms (streaming, linear TV and on-line), some 100 million individuals in Europe engaged with WBD Olympics content material.

“We had excessive expectations [going into the Olympics] however this has blown away our expectations,” mentioned JB Perrette, CEO and president, world streaming and video games. “The early stats, on Max particularly, have been unbelievable. Within the first 4 or 5 days, new paid streaming subscribers exceeded that for the totality of Tokyo [2020 Olympics].”

WBD has lots using on the Paris Olympics. This yr’s video games are the primary for the reason that merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia into WBD and the community timed the launch of its standalone streaming service Max in Europe to capitalize on the eye across the occasion. Max launched in its first 20 European nations on Could 21 and in France on June 11. WBD is carrying the Olympics throughout 47 markets in 20 languages in Europe on its streaming platforms Max and Discovery+, and on linear TV and on-line by its Eurosport channels.

Perrette mentioned in comparison with the U.S. launch of Max final yr, “Once we have been out of cycle with a few of our greatest tentpole HBO and Max collection… once we simply didn’t have our greatest stuff” the European launch has been “from a content material perspective to the very best world” with the brand new season of Home of the Dragon and the Olympics offering a one-two punch.

Key to WBD’s long-term success with Max in Europe can be holding on to these Olympics followers post-Paris. Perrette mentioned preliminary indicators are constructive, pointing to sturdy engagement by new Max subscribers, which WBD mentioned watched greater than thrice the leisure programming as a proportion of their whole viewing that subscribers acquired on Discovery+. Perrette additionally famous that the variety of new subscribers who had saved the auto-renew operate on, suggesting they may hold their subscriptions after the Olympics, was “considerably higher” than forecast, although he didn’t give particular figures.

On ad-supported conventional TV and on-line, WBD mentioned advert gross sales for Paris 2024 have been greater than double these for Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 mixed.

Entertainment

Eurosport Commentator Dropped, ‘Last Supper’ Apology

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European TV and streaming firm Eurosport, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, has dropped commentator Bob Ballard from its Olympics protection after an “inappropriate remark” that he made about members of Australia’s ladies’s swimming group went viral.

Ballard, commenting after the Australian feminine swim group received the gold medal within the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, mentioned the athletes, who had been celebrating collectively, had been late to depart the swimming venue as a result of “you recognize what ladies are like, hanging round, doing their make-up.”

His feminine colleague, commentator and former Olympian Lizzie Simmonds known as Ballard out for the remark. “Outrageous, Bob. A few of the males are doing that as nicely,” she quipped, prompting fun from Ballard. A 15-second clip of the feedback shortly went viral on social media. Ballard was dropped quickly afterward.

“Throughout a section of Eurosport’s protection [Sunday], commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate remark,” Eurosport mentioned in a press release. “To that finish, he has been faraway from our commentary roster with quick impact.”

Addressing the controversy on X (previously Twitter), Ballard mentioned it “was by no means my intention to upset or belittle anybody and, if I did, I apologize. I’m a large advocate of ladies’s sport. I shall miss the Eurosport group dearly and need all of them the perfect for the remainder of the Olympics.”

Ballard is a veteran reporter and sportscaster who’s coated the Olympics for a number of European retailers for many years, together with the BBC. Protecting Ballard’s dismissal, the British public broadcaster mentioned he “has been a stalwart of world sports activities protection for the reason that Eighties.”

The Parisian Olympics additionally got here below fireplace from some quarters for a scene from Friday’s glitzy opening ceremony. A efficiency, set in opposition to the backdrop of the river Seine that featured drag queens, a transgender mannequin and a singer costumed as Dionysus (the Greek god of wine), offended some spiritual viewers, who thought the act was mocking Leonardo da Vinci’s The Final Supper, an outline of Jesus and his disciples earlier than the crucifixion.

In an interview with French tv, Olympics creative director Thomas Jolly mentioned the concept had been to depict “a grand pagan pageant linked to the gods of Olympus” and that The Final Supper was not a reference.

Chatting with Reuters, Paris 2024 consultant Anne Descamps mentioned there was “by no means an intention to point out disrespect to any spiritual group. [The opening ceremony] tried to have a good time neighborhood tolerance…. We consider this ambition was achieved. If individuals have taken any offense, we’re actually sorry.”