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This was the highest Rio 2016 audience in China and higher than the audience in China for any Olympic event from London 2012RIGHTS HOLDING BROADCASTERS AT RIO 2016the clock from 5 July to 24 August. In coordination with the Rio 2016 Organising Committee, the IBC was designed, constructed and operated by OBS, who equipped broadcasters with the tools required to run their unilateral operations – either on-site or remotely – with greater fl exibility and effi ciency. The most important digital offering provided by OBS to facilitate RHBs in delivering content across different devices was the Olympic Video Player (OVP), which was made available for the fi rst time at a summer Games, having been launched at Sochi 2014. This sophisticated, multi-platform tool offered live streaming and on-demand coverage of every competition from Rio 2016, while it could also be customised for its broadcasters in terms of look, language and integration with advertising.Fourteen RHBs representing 56 countries, including populous territories such as India, Thailand and Latin America, took advantage of the OVP, meaning that digital users in far-fl ung Olympic events on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports App were under 35 years old. Gary Zenkel, President of NBC Olympics, explained: “Television is no longer just a piece of hardware propped up on a table or hanging on a wall. Rather, ‘television’ is now a video stream – and in the case of the Olympic regions were able to watch coverage tailored towards the sports and athletes that were most important to them. Overall, more than nine million hours of content were streamed globally through OVP platforms during Rio 2016, consumed by as many as one million daily unique users, ensuring that the digital reach of the Games was extended to more territories than ever before.Broadcasters built upon unprecedented levels of digital success at London 2012 to post more record-breaking fi gures, highlighting the shift towards streaming the Games on digital platforms. NBC, the offi cial Olympic broadcast partner in the United States, labelled Rio 2016 the most successful media event in history following the accumulation of some staggering digital consumption fi gures. In total, NBC recorded 3.3 billion streaming minutes for Rio 2016, including 2.71 billion live streaming minutes – nearly double the combined live streamed minutes of all prior Olympic Games. Additionally, over 50 per cent of viewers who live streamed BRAZILUSACHINA32 MILLION2.71 BILLION55 MILLIONviewers on average watched GloboÕs live coverage of the Opening Ceremonylive streaming minutes on NBC, nearly double that of all prior Olympic Games combinedpeople tuned into CCTV to watch the badminton menÕs singles gold medal matchOLYMPIC BROADCASTING36 OLYMPIC REVIEW