TV Ratings: 28M+ Watched Olympics Thursday

NBCUniversal’s presentation of the final Thursday of Paris Olympics competition on NBC, Peacock, and across key NBCU platforms posted a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 28.5 million viewers, according to official data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics – nearly doubling the audience for the comparable Thursday of competition for the Tokyo Olympics (14.5 million across all platforms).

Beginning with Friday’s Opening Ceremony, NBCUniversal has a posted a 14-day Total Audience Delivery average of 31.6 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 77% from Tokyo (17.8 million).

Led by Peacock, 20.3 billion minutes of Paris Olympics coverage have been streamed through Thursday – up 21% from all prior Summer and Winter Olympics combined (16.8 billion minutes across NBCUniversal digital platforms).

The Paris Olympics are delivering gold for NBCUniversal’s streaming business—and the media behemoth has a tight group of dynamic influencers and celebrity personalities to thank for much of that sparkle, reports Forbes.

The current Peacock offering—the streamer is delivering 5,000 of NBCU’s overall 7,000 hours of Olympics coverage—is in stark contrast to the Tokyo summer Games in 2021 where Peacock streamed only limited, scattershot coverage with no apparent cohesion.

Not so much for 2024. This time the coverage is smooth, snappy, and often feels more like a social media scroll than event footage and analysis. And while all eyes are on the world’s elite athletes, the culture is being elevated by personalities who are bringing the cool.

Whether it’s Snoop Dogg swimming laps with former Olympian Michael Phelps or touring the Louvre; Alex Cooper, co-creator and host of the podcast Call Her Daddy, hosting a streaming-only watch party or sharing BTS interviews with members women’s gymnastics team; or Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson putting their comedic lens on each day’s events in their Peacock-exclusive highlights show—the party is nonstop, and audiences of all demographics and viewing preferences are welcome.