IOC claims record viewership for Sochi Games

The International Olympic Committee Wednesday said the viewing figures for the ongoing Winter Olympic Games here are record breaking.

Timo Lumme, managing director of Olympic television and marketing, said at a press conference that the global broadcast is bigger than ever before for an Olympic Winter Games.

He said: "In all, 464 television channels are showing coverage of the Sochi Games versus 240 in Vancouver. That breaks down into 310 free-to-air channels against 128 in Vancouver, and 154 pay channels against 112 in Vancouver.

"We have more digital channels than ever before. We now have more than 230 digital destinations across the world broadcasting the Games which breaks down into 155 websites and 75 apps."

"In Russia, over three-quarters of the Russian people have watched some coverage of the Winter Games. In the US, over half of its population has been watching so far. In Canada, 90 person of Canadians have watched some coverage and in Korea, two-thirds of Koreans have watched some coverage. In China 190 million people so far have watched at least 15 minutes of coverage."