Japan scored the largest cumulative audience (587 million), followed by France (335 million), Germany (310 million) and China (309 million).
The largest market shares, however, were reached in New Zealand (26.4 per cent), Switzerland (21.6 per cent) and Austria (21.1 per cent).
Of the 19 countries, Brazil broadcast the most hours (168 hours) with Spain in second place (125 hours).
Said IPC media and communication director Miriam Wilkens: “An audience of 1.8 billion in 17 countries is more than we had in total for the Sydney 2000 Paralympics. One has to keep in mind that the final study will include 38 countries, so we are confident that we will be able to see a clear augmentation of the cumulated TV audience. This development confirms that there has been a good growth in interest for the Paralympic Games.”
German broadcaster ARD/ZDF reported that the highlights aired on Sunday, September 19, were watched by nearly 1.5 million.
In Great Britain, the BBC attracted around 2 million viewers for its first Sunday Paralympic programme.
