At your service. Before they fly out of Paris, the folks over at NBCUniversal — from NBC Sports to Peacock — might wanna swing by the Champagne region of France to stock up on its namesake export. According to Nielsen ratings and NBC’s internal data released Monday, the company’s coverage of the Paris Olympics was a smashing success, attracting an average total audience of 30.
6 million viewers over the course of the 17-day event. That’s up a stunning 82 percent over the COVID-delayed Tokyo Games (16.9 million) and ahead of the similar metric for the recent Olympics in Rio (27.
5 million ) and London (30.3 million in final data, per NBC). It’s a stunning win for NBCU owner Comcast, which like other legacy media companies has been struggling through the transition from linear TV (broadcast and cable) to streaming.
Not only did NBCU’s linear properties turn in exceptional performances during the Games — with a halo effect for divisions such as NBC News and Telemundo and USA Network — but subscription streamer Peacock dramatically improved upon its 2021 and 2022 performance covering the Olympics. While there were certainly hiccups, the overall reaction to the streamer’s presentation of the Paris Games was positive , while the numbers were eye-poppingly good: NBCU says 23.5 billion minutes of coverage was streamed — most of it on Peacock.
That is 40 percent more than the audience for the last two Olympiads combined. On any given day, 4.1 million viewers stream.