Although many key Olympic gold medal events lasted only seconds -- especially track and field -- rising viewership continued for many races up to an hour afterwards, according to U.K.-based addressable ad-technology company Yospace.

For example, the Men’s 100 meter final -- where the winning time was 9.79 seconds -- had a steady increase in viewers for over an hour after the race had ended.

Similarly, the advertising break an hour after the women’s 100-meter final totaled more viewers among some countries than the time directly before the race started.

These results were derived from the U.K.- based Yospace, a dynamic ad-insertion specialist, which placed some four billion one-to-one addressable ads into live streams during the Olympic Games’ 19 days across four continents.

Also key to these after results were territories having had an competitor from that country in the race. The men's 200-meter final had more than 30% more viewing in those countries.

Unexpected "fringe" events also surprised with a strong surge in viewing results, the company says. For example, the Kayak Cross Final only lasted 1 minute and 15 seconds, but drove an 8% higher viewing for some territories. 

One home-grown athlete, France’s Leon Marchand, was a major swimmer performing medalist, winning the Men’s 200 meter butterfly and breaststroke events in the same night. This lifted advertising viewers by nearly 15% in some countries. Marchand won four overall during the Olympics.