More people in West Palm Beach, Florida have watched NBC’s presentation of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games during the first four days of the competition than in any other metropolitan area of the country, according to data from Nielsen.
Additionally, more NBC affiliates owned by the E. W. Scripps Company made the list of broadcasters in the top 15 markets by share of viewers compared to any other broadcaster, including NBC itself, the Nielsen data shows.
The list of top 15 markets by share of viewers was released by Comcast’s NBC Universal on Wednesday as part of an update on the network’s ratings for the 2024 Summer Olympics, which has drawn higher interest and viewership to NBC’s broadcast network, NBC-owned cable channels and streaming platform Peacock compared to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Overall, NBC has drawn an average of 30 million viewers to the network, cable channels and Peacock with its coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics since the Opening Ceremony last Friday, which was offered live on the network and on tape-delay for prime-time.
Related: Special coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games
All 39 Olympic competitions are streaming live on Peacock, the $8 per month streaming service owned by Comcast and operated by NBC Universal. Peacock’s average viewership has hovered between 4 million and 5 million since the start of the Olympics, according to an analysis of Adobe Analytics data reviewed by The Desk, suggesting most people are still choosing to watch live and same-day coverage of the Olympic Games on broadcast and cable TV.
When it comes to NBC, nearly all the top 15 markets by share of viewers are located in the Eastern or Central time zones, where stations share a common feed of the broadcast. Most prime-time and late-night coverage on NBC is tape-delayed for West Coast stations, where viewers typically know the outcome of key events hours after they’ve taken place in Paris.
The top markets that have seen the highest share of viewers over the first four days of Olympic competitions on NBC are:
- 1. West Palm Beach, Florida (WPTV, Channel 5)
- 2. New Orleans (WDSU, Channel 6)
- 3. Tulsa, Oklahoma (KJRH, Channel 2)
- 4. Minneapolis (KARE-TV, Channel 11)
- 5. Fort Myers, Florida (WBBH, Channel 20)
- 6. Dayton, Ohio (WDTN, Channel 2)
- 7. Indianapolis (WTHR, Channel 13)
- 8. Kansas City, Missouri (KSHB, Channel 41)
- 9. Louisville (WAVE-TV, Channel 3)
- 10. St. Louis (KSDK, Channel 5) / Pittsburgh (WPXI, Channel 11) [tie]
- 12. Milwaukee (WTMJ, Channel 4)
- 13. Austin (KXAN, Channel 36)
- 14. Providence (WJAR, Channel 10)
- 15. Dallas (KXAS, Channel 5)
Scripps leads with the most NBC affiliates on the list — it owns the stations in West Palm Beach, Tulsa, Kansas City and Milwaukee. TEGNA has the second-highest number of most-watched NBC affiliates with three (Minneapolis, Indianapolis and St. Louis), while Hearst Television and Nexstar Media Group have two each. Cox Media Group, Sinclair and Gray Television have one each, as does NBC itself, which owns the station in Dallas.
