More than 15 million people tuned in to watch some or all of the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games from Paris on NBC and related cable channels, Comcast’s NBC Sports said this week.
The games, which started in late August and ended earlier this month, brought an average audience of 15.4 million viewers across its 12-day run, which included the Opening and Closing Ceremonies from Paris, NBC Sports said in a release.
Peacock offered the most-comprehensive coverage of the 2024 Summer Paralympic games, which included live streams of all competitive events, multi-view channels and a dedicated whip-around broadcast called “Gold Zone” that offered live look-ins throughout the morning and afternoon. Peacock had a total audience delivery of 1.2 million viewers, NBC Sports affirmed, citing Adobe Analytics data; the figure was around 31 percent higher compared to the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo, which were delayed to 2021 due to the coronavirus health pandemic.
The Paralympic Games averaged 1.8 million viewers during prime-time on NBC, the network said, citing Nielsen data. Unlike the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, which were held from late July to early August, NBC did not offer daily, comprehensive coverage of the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, opting to air the Opening and Closing Ceremonies on CNBC and relegating most of the games to its cable networks and Peacock. Paralympics coverage on USA network averaged around 162,000 viewers, a 113 percent increase compared to the 2020 Paralympic Games, which largely aired on the now-shuttered NBC Sports Network (NBCSN).
Related: Special coverage of the 2024 Summer Games
“From the host city to the athlete performances to the return of friends and families, Paris 2024 set a new standard of excellence and will be regarded as one of the most spectacular Paralympic Games ever,” Molly Solomon, the Executive Producer and President of NBC Olympics & Paralympics Production, said in a statement. “We knew our coverage needed to meet the moment, so we produced more hours than ever, streamed every sport on Peacock, added innovations such as Gold Zone and multi-view for the first time, and had more commentators on-site than ever before. The result was record viewership, setting a high bar for LA28 that we can’t wait to surpass yet again.”
As with the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games saw the biggest audience on NBC’s affiliate in New Orleans, Hearst-owned WDSU (Channel 6). Fort Myers, Florida was the market with the second-biggest audience on NBC, followed by Greenville-Spartanburg and Indianapolis.
