Many wondered four years ago whether NBC’s 2014 decision to secure U.S. media rights to the Olympics for $7.75 billion through 2032 was a bad business deal.
Now that NBC is the most watched Winter Games in twelve years, those concerns seem to have diminished.
Through Friday, NBC averaged 24 million viewers during its prime afternoon coverage (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST) and Primetime in Milan (8:00 PM – 11:00 PM EST and PST), according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. That is an improvement of 94% compared to the 2022 Games in Beijing.
This is the second Olympic Games in a row where viewers have returned in large numbers. The 2024 Paris Summer Games were 82% higher than the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Full figures for the 17 days — including the The United States’ 2-1 victory over Canada in men’s hockey Sunday morning – are expected to be released Monday.
“I think the Paris Games deserve a lot of credit for reigniting that interest and enthusiasm, and some of that momentum continued in Milan,” NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said from Milan.
Hassan Ammar via Associated Press
Molly Solomon, NBC’s president and executive producer for the Olympics, and her team also deserve credit for changing the network’s coverage approach after Beijing.
Instead of waiting until prime time to showcase the major sports, these events were shown live via streaming along with NBC’s network and cable channels. The primetime show was redesigned to highlight key events with more interviews and analysis to complement what viewers had seen live earlier in the day.
“How can we best ensure that we continue to tell (athletes’) stories after they leave the venues? I think one of the improvements we made to our coverage in Paris was to follow the athletes to their afterparties and reunions with their friends and families,” said Solomon, who oversees coverage from NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
“When Alex Ferreira won (the gold medal in the men’s halfpipe), we went to the bar where he was celebrating. There was a Team USA party for it Mikaela Shiffrinwhere we were there for the toast, and she told me she couldn’t help Breezy Johnson get onto the platform.
“These athletes trusted us to have our cameras there, and I think that made for even richer storytelling and taking the audience there.”
NBC adopted a format used for years in other countries while listening to viewers demanding change. NBC had streamed all Olympic sports since the 2012 Games in London, but made a big jump when NBC Universal launched Peacock in 2020.
Through Friday, 14.8 billion minutes of the Milan Games had been streamed in the U.S., more than doubling the total of all previous Winter Games combined (6.9 billion).
David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images
The viewership gain can also be attributed to the performance of the American team, which underperformed in Tokyo and Beijing. Those games were played in hermetically sealed environments with largely empty locations due to COVID-19.
Thursday’s victory continues the USA in women’s hockey above Canada in overtime and Alysa Liu’s gold medal in figure skating averages 26.7 million on NBC, USA Network, Peacock and other NBCUniversal digital platforms.
USA Network and Peacock averaged 5.3 million viewers for the gold medal hockey game, making it the most-watched women’s hockey game ever. It peaked at 7.7 million in overtime when Megan Keller scored the winning goal.
“It really was a golden hour. We were flying between the control rooms and you never know what’s going to happen,” Solomon said. “The energy in our control rooms on site, we couldn’t believe the confluence of drama and excitement, but that’s really what the Olympics are about. It’s unpredictable, exciting and it just came together in the golden 64 minutes.”
NBC is ready to continue the momentum for the next two games. The 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles will have live, wall-to-wall coverage throughout the day, while NBC will return to the reporting formula that worked in Paris and Milan for the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps.
The 2032 Summer Games in Brisbane, Australia, will present challenges as most events will take place at night in the US, but the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City will once again offer a live Olympics.
NBC has the rights to the Olympics through 2036. Last year it agreed to the 2034 and ’36 Games for $3 billion.
“Paris produces Milan, and Milan will produce LA. I think the Olympics are unique in many ways,” Cordella said. “The American-Swiss curling match is streamed online by hundreds of thousands of people. They search for it and watch these matchups of these athletes; they probably didn’t know about it before the Olympics started. It’s compelling TV, and that’s kind of what the Olympics do.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
