MORE women than men are watching the Olympics on British television, independent researchers said yesterday. With the first week’s viewing figures up by more than 50 per cent on those at Sydney, largely because much of the Games are being screened at peak viewing time, women averaged 54 per cent of the audience, up 5 per cent on 2000.
The BBC said yesterday that the best figures this week had been 8.3 million on Monday for Kelly Holmes’s gold medal win in the 800 metres, 8.6 million for the men’s 1,500 metres on Tuesday and 7.9 million for the semi-finals of the men’s 200 metres. The highest audience so far was 10.7 million, for Paula Radcliffe’s marathon drama on Sunday.
Kevin Alavy, the senior analyst for Initiative, which collates the ratings, said the Olympics had an “unrivalled ability” to attract women compared with sports such as football and cricket. Oversight, a company that examines internet activity, found that Ian Thorpe, the Australian swimmer, had been the most searched-for athlete of the Games.