Paris 2024 Opening Days Measured Through Internet Traffic
Cloudflare’s global network — data centers in over 320 cities serving millions of customers — offers a unique vantage point for observing how major real-world events move Internet traffic. The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, running from July 26 to August 11, provided a fresh dataset. With 10,714 athletes from 204 nations competing in 329 events, the games' first days produced clear, measurable shifts in traffic patterns across France and around the world. Cloudflare is maintaining a live 2024 Olympics report on Cloudflare Radar to track these trends as the event unfolds.
The Opening Ceremony’s Impact on French Traffic
The opening ceremony on July 26 was a historic first: held outside a stadium, along the Seine River, it ran for nearly four hours. In France, the broadcast caused noticeable dips in Internet traffic, a pattern consistent with national TV events like Euro 2024. Between 17:30 and 21:20 UTC, traffic ran 15% to 20% below the previous week’s levels, with the deepest drops coinciding with high-profile performances.
Time of drop (UTC) | Drop % | Events at the time | |
|---|---|---|---|
#1 | ~21:15 | -20% | The Olympic cauldron is lit and floats into the Paris sky via air balloon; Celine Dion serenades Paris from the Eiffel Tower. |
#2 | ~17:45 | -17% | Lady Gaga sings the French classic “Mon truc en plumes” by Zizi Jeanmaire. |
#3 | ~19:45 | -16.9% | Team USA boat takes to the river, followed by Team France – the last boat en route to the Eiffel Tower. |
#4 | ~20:15 | -16.9% | Dionysus performs the song “Naked” (Philippe Katerine); John Lennon’s “Imagine” is sung from the middle of the Seine by Juliette Armanet; a metal horse rides down the river. |
#5 | ~18:00 | -16.7% | As the boats continue along the Seine, around 80 artists from the Moulin Rouge perform the famous French cabaret dance, the can-can. |
Not all moments drew attention away from the Internet. At 19:30 UTC, during the middle of the athletes' boat parade, traffic fell only 4% from the prior week. But once the ceremony wrapped, engagement reversed sharply: at 21:45 UTC, traffic was up 8% compared to the previous week. Mobile traffic also skewed higher during the event, reaching 61% share at 20:45 UTC versus 57% the prior week.
Parisians Depart as Visitors Arrive
The Olympics reshaped where French traffic originated. Many locals left the capital for vacation or quieter areas as tourists moved in. Regional data shows Île-de-France (the Paris region) and Grand Est experienced the most significant declines in daily request traffic. Île-de-France saw its largest weekly drop — 15% — during the first week of July, followed by another 8% dip the week before the games began. By the week of the Olympics (July 22-28), traffic was level with the prior week, as incoming visitors offset the exodus.
Mobile device usage patterns also shifted. Traffic from mobile devices peaked during the opening weekend, hitting 53% on July 26 — higher than any previous Friday since June — and 58% on Sunday, July 28, the highest since June. These increases align with vacation periods and leisure use during the games.
Global Traffic Dips, Led by Non-European Nations
Outside France, the ceremony’s pull was less dramatic but still visible. Globally, traffic dropped 3% at 20:15 UTC during musical performances and 2% at 21:15 UTC near the ceremony’s end, relative to the prior week.
Notable declines were recorded across 30 countries tracked for the event. The most substantial drops occurred outside Europe:
- Mongolia: -20%
- Argentina: -13%
- Uzbekistan: -12%
- New Zealand: -9%
Competition Days Drive Country-Specific Spikes
Once competition began on July 27, individual events outpaced the ceremony in drawing attention in several countries:
- United States: Simone Biles’ gymnastics performances drove bigger drops than the opening ceremony. Traffic was 4% lower at 10:00 UTC during her beam routine and 6% lower at 10:45 UTC during floor and vault.
- France: Léon Marchand’s gold medal and Olympic record in the men’s 400m individual medley on July 28 produced a 17% traffic drop at 18:30 UTC — larger than the ceremony’s impact on French traffic.
- Australia: Mollie O’Callaghan’s women’s 200m freestyle win on July 29 correlated with a 5% traffic drop at 20:00 UTC, more than the ceremony’s 2% dip.
- South Korea: The women’s archery team’s gold on July 28 led to an 8% traffic decline at 15:30 UTC, the largest observed there from July 26-29.
- Brazil: Swimmers Guilherme Costa and Maria Fernanda Costa’s 400m freestyle races on July 27 coincided with a 15% traffic drop at 19:30 UTC, surpassing the ceremony’s effect.
DNS Traffic to Olympic Sites Shifts Geographically
Interest in official Olympic websites, measured through request data from Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver, evolved as the games progressed. France led with 24% of DNS traffic to these sites before the event, followed by the UK (20%) and the US (17%) in the week of July 22. By July 27 — the first full day of competition — the US had taken the lead with 16% of all DNS requests to Olympic destinations.
The top 10 countries by DNS request share on July 27:
- United States: 16%
- Germany: 12%
- France: 9%
- Vietnam: 9%
- Brazil: 5%
- Australia: 5%
- United Kingdom: 4%
- Netherlands: 4%
- Canada: 3%
- South Africa: 2%
Global daily DNS traffic to official Olympic sites began its climb on July 23, peaking on July 28 with a 509% increase over the previous week. Country-level surges were more pronounced: the US saw a 719% jump on July 28 (Biles’ first competition day), France 391% on the same day, and Germany spiked 2300% on July 27. The timing confirmed that once competition began, interest broadened beyond the host nation.
Disruptions and Security Threats Registered
The opening ceremony day was also marked by railway arson attacks affecting 800,000 passengers on France’s high-speed network. DNS traffic to public transportation websites surged 2000% above the prior week at 10:00 UTC as users sought updates.
DDoS activity around the games was present but not coordinated on a large scale. On July 29, a widely used French government website was targeted for nine minutes, peaking at 207,000 requests per second. A national transportation site came under a smaller attack on July 21, peaking at 10,000 rps for a few minutes. These incidents align with broader trends: most DDoS attacks are short-lived, and 81% peak below 50,000 rps. Even a 10,000 rps attack, minor by Cloudflare’s scale, can be harmful to unprepared targets.
Olympic-Themed Email Threats Increase
From January through late July 2024, Cloudflare’s Cloud Email Security processed over a million emails with “Olympics” or “Paris 2024” in the subject line. During the week of July 22-28, volume surged 304% over the prior week and 3111% over the busiest week in January. Spam accounted for 1.5% of all such emails since January, with malicious messages at 0.1%. Malicious email rates peaked at 0.6% the week of May 6, then rose again to 0.4% in early July before declining to 0.05% during the opening week — even as overall volume spiked. Spam, however, climbed above 2% that same week, the highest since a 7% peak the week of June 24.
Readings on an Ongoing Event
The first days of Paris 2024 showed how strongly physical events command digital attention. Traffic dips during key ceremony moments and sporting performances — often exceeding those seen during the opening — demonstrate the pull of live television. The surge in DNS traffic to official Olympic sites, led by the US once competition began, underscores the international scope of interest.
The July 29 sabotage of French fiber optic cables, however, produced no observable disruption to Internet traffic in France or its cities.
Cloudflare will continue updating its Paris 2024 Olympics report as the games proceed, tracking emerging Internet trends.
