The 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics may have wrapped up, but the excitement is still buzzing! Paris, in all its glory, welcomed millions with wide-open arms—no COVID-19 restrictions like Tokyo 2021 in sight. It was Europe’s first Summer Olympics since London 2012, and the City of Light absolutely delivered. With no pandemic hurdles to slow things down, this year’s Games shattered viewership records—whether fans were roaring in the stands or cozying up at home streaming every moment! From the athletes to some of the favorite creator apps, everyone teamed up to make this a truly unforgettable event!
Just before the Paralympics kicked off in August, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) teamed up with TikTok to launch some seriously exciting plans for the 2024 Paralympic Games. The idea? To bring Para sport to the world like never before! With over 400 clips of epic sporting moments, shared in that classic @Paralympics style, they made sure everyone gets in on the action. And guess what? There were nearly 50 TikTok LIVEs with Paralympians showing off behind-the-scenes vibes from Paris—talk about getting up close and personal!
And it doesn’t stop there! TikTok LIVE handed us all a front-row seat to the Paralympics, and they even got exclusive Phryge gifts. For every gift sent, TikTok donated to help the IPC’s programs, which were all about giving people with disabilities more opportunities to get involved in sports. Plus, we got daily highlights from all 22 sports, along with some quick, fun explainer vids so we know what’s up. This year’s Paralympics? It indeed was one for the books!
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Thanks to all the TikTok love, the Paralympic raised a whopping $500,000 in funding for the IPC’s Para sport development programs. IPC dropped a press release earlier, announcing how their partnership with TikTok was all about reaching fans across the globe with some amazing content during Paris 2024. And boy, did it work! The Paralympics’ official TikTok account blew up with over 125 million views and 6 million engagements. Talk about going viral!
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And get this—TikTok creator Zac Brady, who’s got over 475,000 followers, was right in the middle of all the action! Brady, who’s disabled, got the chance of a lifetime to travel to Paris and cover the Paralympics. It was his first trip to Europe, and he was totally outside his comfort zone, but TikTok had his back, helping him get everything sorted for the trip. He told Forbes how he had no clue what to expect when he touched down in Paris, but it turned out to be an unforgettable adventure! Safe to say, TikTok really helped make the Paralympics bigger and better than ever this year!
But Zac Brady wasn’t the only one spreading the love for the Paralympics! A whole squad of athletes jumped on board, using their social media platforms to hype up the Games and making it unforgettable.
Who were the stars behind the Paralympic buzz?
On September 2nd, USA Network hit a major milestone, racking up 222,000 viewers and snagging the title of the most-watched Paralympics cable broadcast ever! NBCUniversal streamed an epic 1,500 hours of sports action across all 22 events on Peacock, smashing old records by day two. And it didn’t stop there—over 140 hours of Paralympic coverage lit up NBC, USA Network, CNBC, and Telemundo. Plus, with a crazy jump of 60% in sales thanks to a bunch of new advertisers, NBCUniversal is straight-up rewriting the history books!
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Half a million dollars for para-sports—Is this the start of a new era for Paralympics?
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Flavor Flav also jumped into the Paralympic hype, tweeting about the Games and showing love to the athletes. He said, “Paralympics is coming soon… and y’all missing some real entertainment if ya ain’t following @Paralympics social media ,,, I don’t know if I should be laughing that hard.” And nope, it doesn’t end here!
Swimming icon Michael Phelps kept the Olympic vibes alive by sharing an energizing reel from rugby star and bronze medalist Ilona Maher. She was all about building hype for the Paralympics! Noah Lyles joined in too, sharing a fun post from Paralympic sprinter Nick Mayhugh with two banners reading, “What Do I Do With My Life Now That The Olympics Is Over,” and the other joking, “TAKE A NAP AND STRETCH THE PARALYMPICS START AUGUST 28TH.”
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Half a million dollars for para-sports—Is this the start of a new era for Paralympics?