A higher share of Americans are watching the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in New Orleans than any other television market in the country, according to new data from Nielsen as released by Comcast’s NBC Universal.
The ratings data comes from households that opt-in to Nielsen measurement on broadcast and cable TV, and evaluates viewership from the Opening Ceremony on July 26th through the first days of the competition through August 5.
According to NBC, the following stations have the highest share of viewers for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games through August 5:
- 1. New Orleans (WDSU, Channel 6)
- 2. West Palm Beach (WPTV, Channel 5)
- 3. Tulsa, Oklahoma (KJRH, Channel 2)
- 4. Minneapolis (KARE-TV, Channel 11)
- 5. Dayton, Ohio (WDTN, Channel 2)
- 6. Kansas City, Missouri (KSHB, Channel 41)
- 7. Fort Myers, Florida (WBBH, Channel 20)
- 8. Milwaukee (WTMJ, Channel 4)
- 9. Oklahoma City (KFOR, Channel 4)
- 10. Louisville (WAVE-TV, Channel 3) / St. Louis (KSDK, Channel 5) [tie]
- 12. Indianapolis (WTHR, Channel 13)
- 13. Richmond, Virginia (WWBT, Channel 12)
- 14. Austin, Texas (KXAN, Channel 36) / Norfolk, Virginia (WAVY, Channel 10) [tie]
- 16. Buffalo, New York (WGRZ, Channel 2) / Pittsburgh (WPXI, Channel 11) / Baltimore (WBAL, Channel 11) [tie]
- 19. Dallas (KXAS, Channel 5)
- 20. Denver (KUSA, Channel 9)
The list expands on one offered by NBC last week, which included the top 15 television markets for the Olympic Games. At that time, the E. W. Scripps Company had the largest amount of NBC affiliates in the top 15 list, The Desk reported.
Scripps maintained its lead with the highest number of most-watched NBC affiliates among the top 10 markets by viewership and share, according to the new list released by the network on Wednesday. The company owns the NBC affiliates in West Palm Beach, Tulsa, Kansas City and Milwaukee.
When accounting for the top 20 most-watched NBC affiliates, TEGNA takes the case, with its station in Minneapolis among the top 10 stations and its outlets in St. Louis, Indianapolis, Buffalo and Denver among the top 20. Scripps and Nexstar Media Group are tied for second place among the 20 most-watched NBC affiliates, with four stations each.
NBC says its prime-time airings of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games have been among the most-watched television programs on broadcast and cable TV over the past week, drawing an average of 13 million viewers on NBC and USA Network each night, according to Nielsen data.
When excluding National Football League games, the 2024 Summer Olympics had five of the top 10 most-watched prime-time broadcasts this year, the network said. Its coverage of various competitions on July 28 drew 20 million viewers in prime-time, second only to the ESPN College Football Playoff Championship Game on January 8, which had 25 million viewers.
