The 2026 Milan Winter Olympics have delivered strong viewership gains for NBC, marking the most-watched Winter Games in 12 years and continuing a rebound from pandemic-era lows.
Through Friday, NBC averaged 24 million viewers across its prime afternoon coverage (2-5 p.m. EST) and Primetime in Milan (8-11 p.m. EST/PST), according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. This represents a 94% increase over the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
Streaming has surged even more dramatically, with 14.8 billion minutes consumed in the U.S. through Friday—more than double the combined total for all prior Winter Olympics (6.9 billion).A standout day came Thursday, when the U.S. women's hockey team's overtime gold-medal win over Canada and Alysa Liu's figure skating gold averaged 26.7 million viewers across NBC, USA Network, Peacock, and other NBCUniversal digital platforms.
This marks the second consecutive Olympics with major audience growth. The 2024 Paris Summer Games rose 82% from the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Viewer increases stem partly from strong U.S. team performances, in contrast to underperformances in the COVID-restricted, low-attendance Tokyo and Beijing Olympics.
NBC executives highlighted the excitement of overlapping drama. “It was truly a golden hour,” said one producer. “The energy in our control rooms on site, we couldn’t believe the confluence of drama and excitement, but that really is what the Olympics is about. It’s unpredictable, thrilling.”
NBC aims to sustain this momentum. The 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games will feature wall-to-wall live daytime coverage, while the 2030 French Alps Winter Games will follow the successful Paris and Milan formula.