Olympics Could Be Most Watched Event in Eight Years

The past two Summer Olympic games, taking place in Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020), each attracted over 3 billion viewers worldwide, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s official reporting, making them some of the most widely watched televised events over the last eight years.

Beyond the chart:

• NBCUniveral expects even higher viewership for this Olympic games as it is the first in several years to take place outside of Asia, providing Western audiences with better viewing times.
• The company has set record ad revenues for this year’s Olympics, securing $1.2 billion in ad commitments, with over $350 million from new advertisers.
• Peacock, NBCU’s streaming service, is raising subscription prices ahead of the games. Ad-supported subscriptions will increase by $2 to $7.99 monthly and ad-free subscriptions will jump to $13.99.
• We forecast total US TV ad spend (including connected TV and linear) will reach $87.74 billion in 2024. Linear TV will continue to make up the majority of that spend through 2028, but its share is declining as spend on CTV grows.