The final ratings results are in, and the 2024 Summer Olympics will go down in history as a massive hit for NBC Sports and parent companies NBCUniversal and Comcast.
The entire 17-day event averaged 30.6 million viewers in the U.S. on NBCU platforms, a whopping 82% above the 2021 Tokyo Games that were delayed and marred by the COVID-19 pandemic, and representing the highest figure for the Olympics since 2012.
NBCU’s total audience delivery (TAD) calculations for the Paris Olympics could be seen as somewhat inflated, as they combine viewership numbers from the afternoon, when it’s prime time in France, and re-airs during prime time in the U.S. Still, by nearly any calculation, the numbers represent a huge lift for both the network and the Olympic more broadly, and are a critical indicator of the elevated buzz the event unquestionably enjoyed.
“The ‘halo effect’ boosted all of our businesses,” said NBCU chairman Mark Lazarus. “The Paris Olympics was as exciting as we could have hoped, and we can’t wait to work with our partners at the IOC and USOPC in Milan-Cortina in ’26 and LA28.”
New Orleans led all local U.S. markets in Paris Olympics viewership, followed by several other smaller markets including West Palm Beach, Fla.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Dayton, Ohio.
Peacock Burst
A key factor in the increased viewership for the Paris Olympics was NBCU’s Peacock streaming service, which entered the Games with sharply heightened ambitions based on live coverage of every medal competition, and then delivered upon that unprecedented vision with a robust offering that included a well-received whip-around show, Gold Zone, among its programming.
During the Olympics, 23.5 billion minutes of streaming coverage were consumed on NBCU platforms, led by Peacock, with that figure up by 40% from all prior Summer and Winter Olympics combined. More than a quarter of Olympics viewers on Peacock also watched through a similarly lauded multiview feature.
The next goal for NBC Sports, NBCU, and Comcast will be to convert that large-scale streaming audience and consumption into retained, paying customers—particularly after Comcast reported a slight dip in Peacock subscribers in its most recent quarter to 33 million. Following Peacock’s exclusive stream of an NFL wild card playoff game in January, the streaming service generated a 9.6% increase in subscribers, offering a potential clue for what might happen in this post-Olympics period.
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