TV Ratings: 30M+ Watched Closing Olympics Ceremony

Sunday night’s Closing Ceremony on NBC and Peacock was highlighted by 7,000 hours of coverage, 329 events in and around the City of Light (and Tahiti!), and numerous breakout stars for Team USA, which won more medals (126) than any country and tied for the gold-medal lead (40).

The world’s biggest media event, the Paris Olympics was consumed in massive numbers on NBCU platforms. Highlights include:

• A Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 30.6 million viewers across the combined live Paris Prime (2-5 p.m. ET) and U.S. primetime (8-11 p.m. ET/PT) time periods – up 82% from the Tokyo Olympics (16.9 million), according to fast national data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.
• The NBC Broadcast Network extended its streak to 152 consecutive Summer Olympics nights as primetime’s No. 1 show.
• Led by Peacock, 23.5 billion minutes of Paris Olympics coverage were streamed – up 40% from all prior Summer and Winter Olympics combined (16.8 billion minutes across NBCUniversal digital platforms).
• USA Network ranked as the #1 cable sports/entertainment network in Total Day and primetime viewership over the two weeks of competition.

Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBCUniversal Media Group: “Our NBCUniversal team matched the occasion of this transformative Paris Olympics, presenting peerless coverage in daytime and primetime across all platforms, including the NBC broadcast network, which once again was home to the most-watched night of television for 17 consecutive days. The Games marked a groundbreaking moment for Peacock, which delivered a flawless user experience and cutting-edge innovation while shattering all-time Olympics streaming records. USA Network went around-the-clock and ranked #1 in cable sports and entertainment for the past two weeks. 

"Telemundo Deportes provided extensive Spanish-language coverage. NBC News broadcast from on-location in Paris and dominated the competition, while our owned-stations and affiliates had soaring local news ratings. We sold more advertising for the Paris Olympics than for any other Games, and we delivered for all of our partners. Parks and Studios received unmatched promotion, as the ‘halo effect’ boosted all of our businesses. 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.”

Paris Olympics in Primetime

NBCU’s lead Olympics host Mike Tirico anchored nearly 100 hours across two primetime presentations – live “Paris Prime” coverage from 2-5 p.m. ET and the traditional U.S. primetime at 8 p.m. ET/PT – as NBCU featured the best events live while adding context and special elements for the large evening audience.

From the most-watched Opening Ceremony since 2012 through last night’s Closing Ceremony, NBCUniversal posted a Total Audience Delivery* of 30.6 million viewers across the combined live Paris Prime (2-5 p.m. ET) and U.S. primetime (8-11 p.m. ET/PT) time periods – up 82% from Tokyo (16.9 million).

Over the full Games, Paris Prime (daytime) and U.S. primetime coverage posted a streaming TAD of 4.1 million viewers daily across Peacock and NBCU Digital platforms.

*Total Audience Delivery is based upon live-plus-same day fast national figures from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Live viewership from 2-5 p.m. ET (Paris Prime) is inclusive of NBC, Peacock, USA Network, E!, Paris Extra 1, Paris Extra 2, and additional NBCU digital platforms. Primetime viewership includes NBC, Peacock, USA Network, Paris Extra 1 and Paris Extra 2. Official Nielsen data for the final days of the Games will be available on Tuesday.

As the 2024 Paris Olympics concluded with last night’s Closing Ceremony, the NBC Broadcast Network extended its streak to 152 consecutive Summer Olympics nights as primetime’s No. 1 show – dating to the Closing Ceremony of the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

NBC has dominated broadcast primetime since the beginning of the Paris Olympics, which has boosted NBC to No. 1 among Adults 18-49 in the 2023-24 season. NBC is now on pace to win the demographic for the 12-month season, which concludes in September.

New Orleans led all markets in local NBC station ratings during the Paris Olympics (“Paris Prime” + primetime windows). A chart of the Top 20 markets is at bottom.

Peacock Power

Led by Peacock, 23.5 billion minutes of Paris Olympics coverage were streamed – up 40% from all prior Summer and Winter Olympics combined (16.8 billion minutes across NBCUniversal digital platforms).

As the streaming home of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Peacock provided fans with the most comprehensive Olympic destination in U.S. media history. Through innovative new features like Peacock Discovery Multiview, Live Actions and the generative A.I.-powered “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” fans were able to navigate more than 5,000 hours of Olympics coverage in a way that best fit their interests or timetable.

Peacock managed up to 60 concurrent single live event streams and up to 300 live events a day during the first week alone – leading to a total of over 3,200 live events over the course of the Games. As one of the most popular offerings of Peacock’s comprehensive Paris Olympics coverage, Gold Zone consistently ranked among Peacock’s top five most-watched Olympics titles and nearly quadrupled its viewership over the course of the Games, with one in five Olympics viewers tuning in.