Methodological problems of measuring world audiences

Before any evaluation of audience data relative to the Olympic Games. it is essential to
consider the scientific value and the methodological problems of measuring the audiences
on a worldwide scale. The obstacles to any kind of accurateaudience figures -particularly
1 The Worldwide Audience for when considering the media presentation of isolated events - are numerous.

the Olympics A barrel of apples, oranges and otherfluits

It is well known that in countries such as the United States. Germany, Japan, Canada,
France and Spain, television audiences are routinely analysed. This activity is largely
driven by the strategic interests of advertisers and broadcasters to attract select audiences.
All of these countries have research centres or agencies (e.g. Nielsen in the United States,
Sofres in France and Spain, and Eurodata in Europe) dedicated to the observation, daily

T
he Olympic Games are one of the most representative examples of what has been
called 'global television', aconcept which has been used to identify the world-wide analysis and detailed description of audiences. In addition, these organizations work
scope of the television broadcast of exceptional events. The landing of man on the continuously to refine their techniques of audience analysis and have employed an
interesting array of methods over the years: audimeters, home surveys, weekly panels,
moon (1969). the wedding of Charles and Diana (1981). the first night of the Gulf War.
immediatememory tracking, telephone surveys, elc. While servicing the needs of national
and sporting events such as World Cup Soccer championships would be examples of this
markets, audience research across these countries uses different sampIes, variables,
phenomenon. Attributes commonly associated with global television events are the size
analysis techniques and measuring criteria which impede or make very difficult com-
of the viewing audience, as well as the ability the broadcast to disrupt the routines of daily
life. parative or cumulative audience interpretation. The picture becomes even murkier when
trying to include even less systematically collected data from other countries.
This chapter investigates the Olympic Games by considering those two attributes. The
In fact one can identify four general types of countries as television data sources:
first section attempts to shed light on popular estimates of Olympic television audiences.
The second section offers a cross cultural picture of television viewing behaviors during Countries for which there is reliable television audience information, although
the Games. While this section does not represent a systematic analysis of audience, it does with methodological limits when it comes to making cross national compari-
offer up some insights into different viewing cultures and factors which provoke interest sons. This is the case of the most developed countries including the United
in the Olympic Games. States, Japan, Canada and the European Union.
Countries for which the data obtained are inconsistent methodologically or
T h e international audience f o r the Olympics incomplete in terms of sample. This is frequently the case in Latin America
where data might be available relative to the urban concentrations, but not for
Newspaper commentaries about the Olympics readily use the size of its world television
scattered villages in rural areas.
audience as proof of the Games' significance. and certainly there is reason to believe that
the Olympic Games gamer among the largest of global television audiences. As a Countries with highly centralizedorcontrolled television systems where official
television event the Olympics involves nearly all nations of the world engaged in a data come from state television corporations. These data should be cautiously
universally popular form of entertainment: sport. But international media also place the interpreted both for the&method and motivation. This is the case, for example,
worldwide viewership figure in the billions even though there are no sufficient statistical of China whose government owned CCTV attributed an audience of
bases available on the event itself. While appealing to a sense of awe, such estimates 500,000,000 people to the Barcelona'92 Opening Ceremony, which would
contradict available world audience and television equipment data. Therefore, one aim of mean an audience of nearly 45 per cent of the population.
this chapter is to estimate the real potential audience for global television phenomena such
as the Olympic Games. Countries, representing close to 70 per cent of the world's population, for which
there are no direct audience data.
Thefirslsecrion of h i s chapter, on inrernarional audience esrimaresfor the Olympics, draws heavily
upon ;he research of Nicolds Lorire a n d N i r i a Garcia, whose colhbororion ;he authors grarefully 1 it is obvious then that only some type of deductive approximation, for example by

*1
acknowledge. considering the population and the numbcr and distribution of television sets needs to be
209 used in lieu of such insufficient direct viewership data. These other data must then be
 conslaera relative to otner tactors such as access to the television signal, the estimatd . , ,".:,.:.
number of people in front of each television, the degree of national involvement in the television set was at 6.3 individuals, a lot higher than that of 1.3 television sets per
televised event, programme schedule, electricity rationing, and so forth. The complexity individual corresponding to North America, for example.
and subjectivity of worldwide audience analysis quickly becomes apparent.
Table 11.2. Television sets by regions
Estimatingpotential world telmision audience
As a starting place from which to analyse Olympic audience potential, one can look at the Geographic region - --
, . ...
N##mhar . %- World ..
Total m~ulation TV x 1000 People
people per TV
level of participation of nations in the celebration of the Olympic Games. Athletes TV sets TV sets

I-
I
belonging toa totalof 172teams. corresponding to 183 countries, paraded at theBarcelona
Africa
Games. These delegations were 'representing' a total of approximately 5,342,306,000 Asia
people - almost 100 per cent of the world'spopulation. calculated at 5,358,344,000 people Europe
at the end of 1991. Barely 16,000,000 people were excluded from direct or indirect North America
representation at the Barcelona Games. The breakdown of these data is shown on Table Latin America
1 I. I. These figures represent UNESCO estimates for 1991. Oceania
USSR (former)

Table 11.1.Population representation at the 1992 Olympic Games

Developed 610,000,000 71.4 1,234,924,000 494 2.1
59 16.8
Developing 244,000,000 28.6 4,107,382,000
Olympic delegations World total 854,000,000 100 5,342,306.000 160 6.3
Africa 47
Asia 39 sources'
Europe 39
North America 2 These averages make clear that the possible audience for the Olympic Games on a
Latin America 37 continent such as Africa, with an average of 37 television sets per 1000 inhabitants, would
Oceania be substantially less than that of Europe, for example, where there are 402 television sets
USSR (Former)
per 1000 inhabitants. Sweden, with 468 television sets per 1000 inhabitants, or the United
States, with 814, contrast sharply with the 44 television sets per inhabitant in Cameroon
or the 3 1 per inhabitant in Nigeria. Ethiopia's 53 million inhabitants only possess 130,000
Non participants
Total world population
Source: StatisCcd Yearbook (UNESCO.1993).
1 16,038,000
5,358,344,000
television sets. Something more than 30 per cent of the world's television sets are to be
found in the United States and Japan, countries which represent only 7 per cent of the
world's population.

Only a little over 16 million people, mainly from the African (Burundi, Cape Verde, Countries from the so-called 'Group of 7' representing the most developed economies in
Reunion and Sao Tome and Principe) and Asian (Cambodia. Gaza, Macao, Diego Garcia) the world -the United States, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Gemany and
continents were not represented in the Opening Ceremony of Barcelona'92. Canada- possess 49 per cent of the total numberof television sets in the world. By contrast.
the African continent, with a similar population to that of !he G-7 (approximately 12 per
That such a large population was represented does not mean, of course, that television cent of the world's population) possesses 2.8 per cent of the total sets in the world. If one
reception was available to them. Large groups of people in Africa, Asia and also in adds, by rough calculation, what might be considered the rest of the 'developed' countries
America, still have no access to electricity. Television sets are expensive in many (according to UNESCO) to the G-7 countries then 71 per cent of television sets belong
countries. Further, despite technological advances using satellites. coverage is still far to 23 per cent of the world's total population.
from universal due to interference in the reception of the television signal.
I This sludy used various informationsourccs on world television equipment, including:
Table 11.2 offers information relative to television sets per 1000 inhabitants by world Slarisical Yearbook, UNESCO, 1993;
region. Using primarily UNESCO data, and bearing in mind methodological drawbacks World CommunicationReporl. UNESCO. 1992;
WorldRodio IV Handbook, 1993;
in collecting this kind of data, one sees that the estimated 1991 average individuals per TV World. EMAP, Business Publications, London 1993:
The Compkre Guide ro World Television, TBI. 1993.
One can state that a relatively stable 98 per cent of people in developed countries haveat In media environments of limited channel choice, but with a relatively high number of
least access to television. However, such calculations are much moredifficult for develo- television sets (e.g. Russia. China, Cuba. Romania, etc.) viewer estimates can be much
ping countries, especially in areas of dramatic development. For example, more recent higher than that in the above example.
Chinese government estimates put the number of TV sets in China alone at 230,000.000
or roughly the same as was considered to exist in all of Asia in 1991 by UNESCO and Timing. Timing differences also affect the potential for simultaneous worldwide audience.
other sources shown on Table 1 1.2. Considering the presence of Japan and Korea in this Even peak viewership of middle of the night programming in a select number of countries
same region. it is clear that either the UNESCO 1991 numbers are very conservative or did not exceed top programme ratings during a 'typical' television week, let alone a week
growth in television set ownership has been nothing less than phenomenal in that country. with a 'special' event. In a broader sense, time of the year also affects viewership when
one considers school vacations, harvests, competing events of interest, etc. Related to this
SpeciJic event audiences (see Chapter 4, is number of programming hours available at various times of the day.
. ~

Trying to estimate potential audience for a television event really asks how many people Local relevance. National audience varies in terms of event interest with the highest
could be conceivably watching television simultaneously around the world. Organizers audience ratings corresponding to local-national events of greatest interest, but these

-
first began to attribute to the Games event audiences measured in millions in Mexico'68, events are not always of world-wide interest or on a world-wide scale. However. this does
and the figure has been rising dramatically ever since. Audience estimates of 600 million help explain the general popularity of the Opening Ceremony as television event because,
viewers (e.g. for the Opening Ceremony) for Mexico'68 was followed by 900 million for in that case, national participation in the Games gains world-wide relevance.
Munich'72.2 billion for Los Angeles'84.3 billion for Swu1'88 until it reached 3.5 billion
which was readily attributed toBarcelona'92. Even allowing for dramatic levels of growth Technical or environmentalfactors. Availability or rationing of electricity as was experi-
in number of television sets in some areas of the world, the figures still do not allow for enced in Cuba and Colombia relative to the Barcelona Games affects audience access to
such high viewer estimates. programming. In Ghana, technical difficulties affected the quality of the Opening Cere-
mony to the point where it was visually indecipherable and sewed to discourage many
In other words, if it is true that there was an audience of 3.5 billion viewers for any event
during the Barcelona Olympics then different combinations must have been produced - -
viewers. In Russia, the loss of sound durine the Closine Ceremonv. .. causinea the need to
- ~ - - --
~~~

use a local commentator, might also havedeterred audience interest. Even the weather can
which, in fact, would be impossible. As an example scenario (using theUNESCO TV set
affect viewership in a variety of ways.
data), the audience for this event would have had to reach 90 per cent in the developed
..

-
countries, which would amount to a figure of 1.I 1 1.43 1,600 viewers, as well as managed
Promotion of the event. While extensively marketed as a television extravaganza in many
to attract another 2,388,568,400 in developing countries, which would only have been
countries, broadcasters in places like Ghana andCameroon - or even Australia for specific
possible if all 244,000,000 television sets were tuned into this event and the amount of
events - did not publish television schedules of Olympic events. This could have a few
viewers per television set was 9.7 people.
different outcomes - either the encouragement of viewing longer hours (in hopes of
These figures are highly unlikely, and adjustments to these numbers result in similarly 'catching' one's favourite sport) or as a message that the Olympics is not of high
improbable formulas. Even with significant alterations to the UNESCO data toward the importance.
outer limits of probability, such as an adjustment downward of viewers per television set
in the less developed countries to 4 and 5 people, the potential television audience in this Competing events. In 1992, many countries had other things on their minds. War in
part of the world would fall between 976,000,000 and 1,220,000,000. respectively Bosnia-Herzegovina; reunification adjustments in Germany; dissolution in Russia; radical
allowing a m i m u m potential world television audience of around 2.3 billion people at -
political transformations in South Africa all sewing to distract viewers from watching
any one point in time. Further this kind of formula does not consider any of a number of television sports. In Cameroon. the death of Mrs. Jeanne Irene Biya, wife of the President
intervening factors that would affect the viewing of a particular Olympic events, whether of Cameroon, caused the Olympic broadcast to go off the air for four days (29 July - 1
ceremonies, team sports, individual sports. finals, qualifying rounds, etc. A sampleof such August). As noted by the study correspondent in Germany:
factors are mentioned below.
The Olympic Games of 1992 were not a big media event in Germany, perhaps
Competitive channel environment. In highly developed, competitive television markets, because of a lot of other things required greater attention - the war in former
as one finds in the United States, Canada, Japan, etc., the audience for big television events Yugoslavia, economic problems in Germany, vacation time in many German
would rarely exceed 30- 35 per cent of the television share (the percentage of people who regions.2
watch a specific programme from among all those watching television) because of
competitive programming alternatives.
213
The audiencefor the Opening a n d Closing Ceremonies
In France the same happened for the womens' 400 metres final which was w(
Even with the above factors causing great country variability in audience levels. various
by Maria Jose Perez. The event was simultaneously retransmitted by fo
audience studies carried out on Barcelona'92 show that the Opening and Closing cere-
television channels: TFl. A2, FR3 and Canal Plus, and it achieved the highe
monies did in fact achieve the highest average audience of all the Olympic events on a
audience figure of 13 million viewers.
world-wide scale, breaking global audience records. However. these figures were far short
of the oft-cited 3.5 billion viewers.
It is also noticeable even in the above examples that television viewers' favourite event
Remember that the potential world television audience calculated above at 2.3 billion in contrast to the sports transmissions of each season. tended to be indiscriminate as
viewers was done considering a 90 per cent audience in developed countries. However, whether it was a men's or women's event. In fact, competitions in which women took pa
the Olympic Games audience in these areas was, at best, between 25 per cent and 32 per occupied the first position in audience ratings in many countries such as, For example, tk
cent. Even with limited channel media environments. such as in Cuba, China and Russia, USA, South Africa, Romania, Korea, England. France, Canada, etc. This is due to tt
reporting viewership around 30 to 40 per cent (and up to 85 per cent of potential audience greater importance given to national prospects at winning medals than of watchir
for Romania during the Closing Ceremony) the highest possible audience for a single particular sport or gender events.
event, such as the Opening Ceremony, must be estimated to be between 700 million and i

one billion, depending on the factors listed above: alternative programming availability, That said, popular spons do certainly attract viewer interest even without gold med;
local interest, timing, the number of viewers per television set, etc. potential (but with at least national participation), such as, womens' gymnastics i
Romania, badminton inMalaysia, and football in Ghana and Colombia. In fact, Colombia rc-
interest in Olympic events altogether fell considerably afterthe national football team ws
Sports events with the largest audiences eliminated. Table 1 1.3shows the most popularly watched Olympic spons for thecountric
in this study as reported by study correspondents and derived from a variety of nation;
The Opening and Closing ceremonies achieved exceptionally good audience ratings in
sources.
most cases analysed in this study and was nearly always in the top four Olympic event
ratings for each country in this study. In some countries, the ceremonies achieved the
In some cases, social and political expectations generated by the athletes' participatio
highest rating for Olympic programming (CTV,Canada; FS2, Austria; TFl ,France; ARD.
increased the audience figures. In South Africa, for example, political leaders began t
Germany). This unanimity of interest makes the ceremonies the Olympic events with the
make statements from the moment people began to discuss the athlete Elana Mayer'

-
highest cumulative audience on a world-wide level. Otherwise audience was influenced
chances in finishiag in one of the first three places in the final of the womens' 10,001
most by national interest or participation in particular sports. And of these events, the
metres. The media divulged that the country's president. F. W. de Klerk and the persol
programme ratings were highest when there was a chance of victory by a national team
in charge of sport each sent a fax to wish her the best of luck, building anticipation towan
or athlete. Even sports that are not very popular in certain countries managed to achieve
the event.
high rating positions as long as there was a chance of a compatriot winning a medal.
Some brief examples illustrate this point: As might be expected, television in Catalonia paid more attention to the Olympic Game!
. In the United States. the audience for the finals of the women's gymnastics
than televisionin theothernationalities andautonomousregions inSpain.3However.eveJ
in this case - the case of the host city itself - the rule of greatest interest in sports event!
achieved the highest rating figures of the Olympic audience, 22.3, 8.5 points of national and local significance remained true. It is significant that in the case o:
above the 13.8, audience rating achieved by the Opening Ceremony. The Barcelona the audience for the 1992 European Cup Final between F.C. Barcelona anc
indiscriminate interest of female and male audiences in this sport, the clear Sampdoria managed to exceed the audience for the Opening Ceremony. While thf
chance for victory of the American team, along with NBC's placement of ceremony obtained a high audience index of 35.7 percent - the sum of viewers who tunec
gymnastics largely in prime time, combined to create top ratings. into TVE (18.2) and Canal Olimpic (17.5) - it still did not exceed that of the Europear
Cup Final which managed a 37.4 per cent audience index, about a point more than the
The participation of Scottish athlete Liz McColgan in the womens' 10,000
Opening Ceremony.
metres brought about the highest audience figure for the Games in Central
Scotland.
. The football final between Spain and Poland attracted the highest audience in
Spain with an audience of some 3.5 million viewers.
3 Although Lhe audience for the Olympies in Spain was large, it could not be considered an audience
leader in television programming. Very few Olympic cpisodes managed lo be included among the
major programs of 1992. Thus, for example, the Opening Ceremony was followed by an average
audienceof 16.7 per cent. far below the highest rarcd programme of 1992 - a show called Que re den
concurso which obtained an average audience of 29.5 per cent.
 After national participation, i t was the participation o f the most famous athletes or team!
in the world, among the international sporting elite, i n the Games that drew the large?
Table 11.3. The most watched Barcelona'92 Olympic sports
audiences. The most representative example i n this sense was the world audience success
achieved by the United States basketball team ('Dream Team') that included the besl
Country First Second Third players from the NBA. The opportunity to see such charismatic players as Magic Johnson.
Germany Gymnastics Athletics Athletics Michael Jordan or Larry Bird, possibly for the last time, drew the interest o f audiences
men's final Triple jump (m.) Hept.800 m.(w.) from the most varied of countries. The basketball final between the 'Dream Team' and
Cameroon Wrestling Not available Not available Croatia obtained the highest audience figures i n such culturally and politically different
countries as China and Mexico as well as high ratings i n Spain. Italy, Romania. and more.
Canada Women's Not available Not available
synchronized The same audience interest was shown for the performances o f other famous American
swimming
athletes whose slardom i n theGames was reminiscentof the international fame o f thegreat
Colombia Football Not available Not available
Hollywood film stars. This is the case of Carl Lewis who was striving to heat the mythical
Cuba Men's baseball Boxing Volleyball I long jump record o f Mexico'68.
China Basketball 'Dream 100 m (m. 8 w.) Women's basketball
team' The degree of interest i n following these elite teams and athletes on the television was less
Basketball 'Dream Football than that of the interest provoked by reasons of a popular, local or patriotic character which
Spain Football
Spain-Poland final team' 1 have been already described. Nevertheless. as happened i n the case of the ceremonies, the
presenceof these famous stars among the highest audience rating positions i n almost every
France Athletics 400m. final. Judo Women's gymnastics ! country i n the world led to higher cumulative audience rating figures on a world-wide
(W.) I
level.
Ghana Football Boxing Athletics in general
Netherlands Athletics in general Women's gymnastics Judo The debate that follows the international Olympic movement about the participation i n
Indonesia Football Badminton Boxing the Games of the great athletes of professional sport - especially relevant i n the case o f
baseball, soccer and cycling - should keep this important audience characteristic i n mind.

-
England Athletics Athletics Boxing
Women's 10.000 m. Men's 100 in.
Italy Men's football Basketball Athletics Cumulative audiencefigures -

'Dream team' Men's 100 m.

Data compiled by the IOC through various sources offer some comparisons of estimates
Japan Womens' marathon Athletics in general Women's for cumulative audience of the past several summer and winter Olympic Games. These
synchronized
swimming figures are shown i n Table 11.4.

Korea Women's archery Wrestling Greco- Women's handball The cumulative audience concept i s highly relevant i n relation to advertising, especially
Roman style
taking into account that Olympic Games, are actually a set o f events that take place over
Malaysia Men's badminton Hockey Football 17 days and offer numerous television audience profiles, and thereforenumerous possible
Mexico Baskerballl Men's 50 km walk Men's pole Vault advertising opporlunities.
'Dream team'
Romania Women's gymnastics Athletics in general Basketball Table 11.4. Cumulative audiences for recent Olympic Games
'Oream team'
Russia Athletics in general Gymnastics Boxing
Summer Winter Summer Winter
South Africa Athletics Athletics Athletics
10.000 m.(w.) 100 in. (m.) loo m. (w.) Seou1'88 Barcelona'92 Calgary'88 Albertville'92
10.4 billion 16.6 billion 6.5 billion 8 billion
USA Women's gymnastics Men's swimming Not available
Source: IOC 1993.
(m.) - Men's event (w.): -Women's evenl.
Source: lnlormatlonprovided by study correspondents.
 If, as in Ghana, television viewing is primarily a medium of the urban middle class wit
The viewing experience a significant amount of group viewing, this skew of television demographics was accet
tuated during the Games. In Ghana, for example, the social characteristics of housing
Rothenbuhler has demonstrated that in the United States the Olympic Games generates a
shared courtyards and shared television sets -lent themselves to such increases in gmu
wider and more diverse type of audience network than that for usual sport or even general
viewing during the Games. While people mostly watched the Olympics at home in urba
televisionprogramming.4Frommostly anecdotal evidence provided by study correspond- settings Karikari cited larger than usual group viewing sizes ranging from 5 to 50 peopl
ents this finding may also hold generally true cross nationally. In addition, television,
in community centres, dorms, churches, or other open places.5
audiences for the Olympic Games seem to have quite similar sociological characteristics ,
in very different regions of the world. In general the demographics are broader, by age 1 Commercial incentives
and gender, than for typical programming (and definitely when compared to sports 1
programming). There were a few peculiarities such as an increase in youth viewership There were many reports of commercial settings using the Olympics as a means to attra,
orkeepcustomers eating ordrinking in theirestablishment by adding television sets, fixin

-
because of summer holidays coinciding with the Olympic schedule in many countries.
Also in Russia, the 1992 Opening Ceremony was said to hold a special interest for the channel to the Olympics, and actively trying to attract customers to come watch. 1
'intellectuals' to whom it was seen as an interesting political moment given the dissolution Malaysia, for example, the Olympic Games were tied to location promotions for shoppir.
of the Soviet Union. I
centres, products, restaurants and more. Drinking establishments of several major hote
promoted specialty drinks and slogans such as the 'Olympic bowl', 'drink your wr
In any case, this broader demographic sweep of viewers associated with the Olympics can , through the Olympics', enjoy 'Happy hour with the Olympics', and so forth.6 In otht
be explained by any combination of the following general factors in a given country, , countries it was common to see the Olympics on television sets in pubs, restaurants ar
inchding. even in small shops and local markets.
!
8
The multidimensional nature of the event: multicultural, multi-political, multi- Changing the daily routine
sport.
The spectacular and historical nature of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
i1 Along these lines, there was an increase in public viewing as well as the creation I
additional public viewing spaces. Television sets appeared in hotel lobbies, airpo
0 lounges, public square and subway stations to allow people to follow the Games outsic
The presence of sports such as gymnastics, diving and swimming which are of E
i their homes. In African villages it was reported that peoplegot togetherin larger than usu
a clearly different aesthetic nature to competition sports. I groups in front of public television sets to follow the main events, especially footba
The attention devoted by rights holding broadcasters to the promotion of the 1
r Similarly, some correspondents reported an increase in portable televisions brought in ~ '-

Games as a special television event. the workplace. And some viewers, as reported in Cameroon, covered quite some gel
graphic distance in order to watch the most important events (boxing, weightlifting ar
The feelings of involvement with some social collective involved in the Games, $ wrestling) with friends and family who had television sets.
whether cultural, racial, sexual, national or linguistic.
8 Some changes were caused by more environmental factors. For example during tl
Such attributes explain how sports such as gymnastics, which attract very small audiences Olympic Games it was very hot in China, and with air-conditioners rare in private house
in the sports programming season, saw some of the largest audiences for Barcelona.92 in many people moved their TVs outside to watch, attracting larger than usual family ar
countries such as the USA. Romania, Germany, Australia, The Netherlands, Russia and 1 neighbour groups for 'patio' viewing.
France.
However, it was time zone differences that accounted for the most disruption in tl
Viewer setting and confgurations routines of daily life during the Olympics. As noted by the study correspondent fro
Australia:
It seemed the consensus of study correspondents that typical viewing group sizes and
settings were increased or are expanded during the Olympic Games. If it is common for Because the 'live' broadcasts of some of the most important finals events fi
teIevision to be watched in family settings, then these patterns continued but maybe with . Australian audiences -for example swimming - took place between 12 and 6 a
there was a tendency to watch through the night, to arrange sleeping time so th
larger family groups or spending more time. Even in the most developed countries such
as the United States, Germany. Italy, etc.. an increase in the amount of people in front of
one television set was detected, with the additionof friends or relations to the family group. 5 Karikad (1992)
6 Mohamed (1992).
 the event could be watched at a certain point. Hence, one might assume that
Olympic coverage tends to create unusual patterns of viewing ... Even press
commentaries emphasized the 'Olympian' quality of the watching experience
12 Local Visions of the GI
itself, which required a certain discipline and dedication.'
In Japan the increase in the number of sets in use during the late night hours was 60 per
some perspectives from
cent higher than for the same time period the year below, correlating directly to Olympic
Games viewing. Summed up nicely by the study correspondents fmm Japan. they said,
around the world
according to such figures. 'it's possible to say that well over eight million Japanese lost
sleep over the O l y r n p i ~ s ' . ~

v
Broadcasters themselves encouraged changes in viewing routines by adding programming
hours onto their regular broadcast schedules. This was the case in Indonesia and China, isions of the Olympic Games, in professional and academic
for example where broadcast hours were extended just for the Olympics period later into come from western, developed countries. These views ha)
the night to accommodate more live coverage. what confined. modern images of the Olympic Games. I
While this analysis could not support the idea that 3.5 billion people simultaneously servers of the Games realize this and know, that for many cultures
viewed theOlympics in unusual circumstances around the world. The audience levels that Olympics creates more a sense of participating in the festival of 'o
were attracted at various peak moments, combined with notable changes in many daily pating in a universal event.
routines still allow the Olympics to be labeled as a global television event of extraordinary This chapter offers just a few different perspectives from around I
proportions around the world. the audacity to combine the views of several countries into more re1
limitations of such ventures are obvious and, while for each area a r
could certainly have been conducted, the idea here is just to offer a :
countries and geographic regions live the Olympics, largely thmug
correspondents.

Africa
The old adage that from where one sits determines what one se
nounced in the interpretations of African nations looking at the
-
analysis of some selected African perspectives highlights the djx
interpreting andexperiencingiheOlympic Games. It alsounderscoi
of hierarchy -or have and have nots - that has run through this en1
issues concerning ways in which identity is manifested through tel

Limitations in television production and reception

The different technical conditions of television reception and pr
The secrions of rhis chapter concerning Africa and Latin America dray
Carmen Cdmez Monc, whose cooperorion the oulhors grarefully achowh
draws primarily upon rhe conrriburions of rhe srudy correspondenrsfron

7 Langer(1992).
8 Kosaka er al. (1992).