Winter Olympics Viewership Figures Were Off The Charts

NBC's Winter Olympics coverage averaged 23.5 million viewers throughout the games, according to THR.

This amounts to almost double the viewership figures of the previous Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022. This is reportedly due to NBC's more extensive coverage and more accessible streaming options.

The 2026 Winter Olympics Were The Most Watched Iteration Since 2014

NBC reports that the Milano Cortina games had the highest viewership figures in over a decade, with more viewers tuning in this year than for either the Beijing or Pyeongchang games.

Most impressively, the Milano Cortina games surpassed the 2022 Winter Olympics in their first week of coverage, with the numbers only getting higher as the event progressed. The games were reportedly streamed for 16.7 billion minutes—more than double the combined total for all previous Winter Olympics.

Of course, previous iterations of the games didn't have such extensive streaming coverage, but this is a clear indication that making the Olympics more accessible around the world is a perfect way of maintaining interest in international sports.

NBC and Peacock have been having an incredible year so far, dominating sports coverage across multiple different events. "The success of the Milan Cortina Olympics, Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara and the 2026 NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles could not have happened without the enormous cooperation and support from across Comcast NBCUniversal," said NBC Sports President Nick Cordelia.

February was the biggest month ever for Peacock, which averaged 3.3 million viewers daily throughout the Winter Olympics. The streamer also saw a huge boost to its further programming throughout the games, including The Traitors, Ponies, and All Her Fault.

The Women's Hockey finals between Team USA and Team Canada pulled in a record 5.3 million viewers, with Team USA ultimately taking home the gold medal. The viewership figures for the men's final will be available in the coming days.