NBC’s presentation of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games on Monday drew more than 31 million viewers to the network, NBC-owned cable channels and streaming service Peacock, according to data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.
The data shows viewership across the first four days of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris — to include the opening ceremony — saw a 77 percent lift in viewership compared to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, which were delayed by one year due to the coronavirus health pandemic.
The Monday events grabbed 70 percent higher ratings compared to the 2021 Summer Olympics, fueled by high interest in events involving the U.S. men’s gymnastics team, beach volleyball and medal-winning swim performance by Katie Grimes, Emma Weyant, Luke Hobson, and Ryan Murphy.
Related: Special coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games
NBC has reserved full competitions and highlights from key events for its prime-time and late-night coverage on the network, though all events stream live on Peacock and a handful of competitions involving Team USA and other countries broadcast live on cable networks USA, E! and CNBC throughout the week.
The network said its average audience across four days of Olympics programming was 33.8 million viewers across key Paris live and prime-time events. Paris Prime begins at 2 p.m. Eastern Time and lasts for three hours, while prime-time runs through the traditional 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. programming block. Prime-time and late night coverage is tape-delayed by three hours for NBC’s audience on the West Coast.
Peacock and other NBC Universal digital platforms saw more than 4.5 million viewers on Monday, marking another day of significant interest for the platform. Peacock’s coverage of the Olympic Games has been well-received, to include a dedicated whip-around channel called “Gold Zone” that offers live look-ins from all 39 Olympic sports.
While Peacock has seen an uptick in streaming usage compared to the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, the platform still accounts for a small fraction of overall viewers each day, suggesting most are still choosing to watch Olympic events on broadcast, cable and satellite.
On Tuesday, NBC said its advertising revenue for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games and Summer Paralympic Games will outpace commitments made against similar events in 2016 and 2020. That includes more than $500 million in ad spending from new sponsors, the network affirmed.
