NBC, Peacock Take Home the Gold With Record-Breaking Olympics Coverage; What Lessons Can Other Streamers Take?
Warner Bros. Discovery also saw its international coverage of the Olympics exceed prior games by a healthy margin.
The 2024 Summer Olympics wrapped up in Paris on Sunday night, and according to the numbers it was one of the most successful telecasts of the games ever. NBCUniversal released the results of its TV and streaming ratings during the games on Monday, and as should come as no surprise, they were a resounding success, especially the numbers brought in by its flagship streaming service Peacock.
Key Details:
- NBCU saw 23.5 billion minutes streamed during this Olympics, up 40% from the Tokyo games.
- Altogether, NBCU drew a combined 30.6 million viewers to the games, up 80%.
- Warner Bros. Discovery attracted 7 billion minutes of streaming time on Max with its overseas coverage.
Just about any way you break down NBCU’s numbers, it was a successful Olympics for the company. The data shows that between NBC, USA Network, Peacock, the Paris Extra 1 and Paris Extra 2 pop-up channels and NBCU digital platforms, the company drew an audience of q million viewers overall across the Paris primetime (2-5 p.m. ET) and U.S. primetime (8-11 p.m. ET) windows. That works out to an average of 4.1 million viewers per day and is an 82% increase over the 2020 Tokyo Games that took place in the summer of 2021.
NBCU also generated 23.5 billion combined minutes of streaming time for the games, led by Peacock. The streamer offered a total of 3,200 live events over the course of the games, often augmented by its “Gold Zone” whip-around show and its multiview feature. One out of every five Olympics viewers watched “Gold Zone,” which helped NBCU see a 40% jump over the combined streaming audience of every other Summer and Winter Olympics ever.
“From the Opening Ceremony procession down the River Seine through more than two weeks of heart-stopping competition culminating this past weekend with Team USA’s gold rush in men’s and women’s basketball, women’s soccer, and track & field relays, these Olympics have captivated Americans in huge numbers across NBCUniversal platforms,” NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said.
NBC and Peacock are fast becoming known as a hub for big sporting events. Demonstrating once again the power of the NFL, last year’s exclusive Wild Card game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins drew 23 million viewers, just a few million less than NBCU’s entire suite of Olympics coverage. Peacock will offer another exclusive NFL game this fall, when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers clash in Brazil on Friday, Sept. 6.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.
WBD Dominates Internationally
NBC and Peacock were the Olympics broadcasting and streaming partners in the United States, but in Europe and other territories, Warner Bros. Discovery holds Olympic rights. Max was a big part of WBD’s successful Olympics in 2024, compiling 7 billion minutes streamed overall.
That figure is 600% more streaming time than the Tokyo Olympics saw on WBD platforms. Max also attracted a record number of new streaming customers, 77% more than the previous games. WBD released its quarterly earnings report for the second quarter of 2024 last week, showing that it had grown by 3.6 million customers worldwide. That quarter concluded at the end of June, however, which likely means the subscriber jump generated by the Olympics was even greater — though whether WBD can keep those viewers engaged is another question.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.
What Can Other Streaming Providers Take from Olympics Ratings?
The success of the 2024 Olympics on streaming services should have lessons for any company that wants to create new sports streamers. The most immediate beneficiaries will likely be Disney, Fox, and WBD, who are combining to launch the Venu Sports joint venture service before the end of August.
Venu will combine sports events from 14 channels, including ESPN, FS1, TNT, TBS and SEC Network. One big lesson for the streamer to incorporate from NBC’s Olympics ratings is that it must go out of its way to make even relatively ho-hum days feel like they’re a big event. A daily whip-around show like “Gold Zone” could be of immense help to Venu, and the streamer reportedly already has plans to incorporate a multiview feature.
Amazon will also want to take note, particularly if it’s going to become an NBA broadcaster in 2025. The company may have tried to surround its sports coverage with extra content too soon; in late 2022, Amazon launched a daily 12-hour sports talk programming bloc. The problem was, at that time the company did not hold many sports rights outside of a weekly “Thursday Night Football” game on Prime Video. Audiences didn’t really respond and Amazon shut down daily sports talk last September. Perhaps now that Prime Video carries NWSL soccer, WNBA games, NASCAR races starting in 2025, and more in addition to its oncoming NBA package, it will be more able to sustain a sports talk programming window.
As sports shift further and further into digital spaces and off traditional linear channels, it’s up to providers to ensure they can lure audiences to follow. That’s especially tricky with older demographics that aren’t as comfortable with streaming services, but it’s necessary if streamers want to make the case to leagues that they can provide the audience reach of major TV networks.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.