Olympics Draw NFL-Like Ratings as TV Viewing Jumps in August
Olympics Draw NFL-Like Ratings as TV Viewing Jumps in August
Nielsen’s latest ‘The Gauge’ report shows NBC drawing in some good numbers for the games.
The 2024 Summer Olympics brought some highly memorable moments. From the dominance of Simone Biles to the breakdancing of Raygun and everything in between, the Paris games brought majestic and befuddling performances aplenty. But how many people were watching? New data from Nielsen’s monthly “The Gauge” report has some insights, showing that overall broadcast TV’s share of total TV viewing jumped 1.7% in August, mostly driven by the games.
Key Details:
- Seventeen Olympic telecasts in August garnered 10 million viewers or more.
- Broadcast sports program viewership was up 239% over August 2023.
- Peacock jumped past 2% of all TV viewing during the month, reaching a new personal best.
If the 1.7% figure doesn’t sound all that impressive, drilling down into the numbers reveals more about the dominant ratings performance NBC posted during the Olympics. Broadcast’s share of TV viewing ended the month at 22% but peaked at 24.3% in the first week of August when the games were at their height. That’s a leap of four full percentage points over broadcast’s mark in July.
Zooming in further, the Olympics had 32 separate telecasts that drew more than five million viewers. Seventeen of those garnered 10 million viewers or more; for context, “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video drew 11.86 million viewers on average last season. It’s fair to point out that the vast majority of audiences can only access “TNF” games via streaming in a given week, whereas the Olympics were offered on broadcast and cable channels as well as streaming, but the numbers are still impressive. Overall, Olympic broadcasts accounted for 19 of the top broadcast programs of August.
The games drove broadcast sports viewership up 239% over August 2023’s numbers. NBC also touted its ratings success soon after the games concluded, revealing that 30.6 million viewers watched the Olympics across all channels and platforms this year, an increase of 80% over the Tokyo games.
How Were Peacock’s Olympic Ratings?
Nielsen also measured that Peacock, with its far-reaching coverage that offered livestreams of every event of the games, had a highly successful month of August. It saw a total monthly viewership increase of 39% and nearly doubled its viewership among audiences ages 35 to 49.
Peacock jumped from 1.5% of all TV watched in July to 2.1% in August, representing a historical high water mark for the streamer. That beat out streaming luminaries like Tubi, Max and Paramount+, landing Peacock right behind Disney+ at 2.3%. YouTube continued its overall dominance of streaming, accounting for 10.6% of total TV viewing in August. Peacock is just the third streamer this year to record a 0.5-point share increase or more in one month.
NBCU said it accumulated 23.5 billion streaming minutes overall during the games, offering more than 3,200 live events. That’s a 40% increase past the previous combined total of all streaming viewers for every past Olympics. Overall, streaming accounted for 41% of all TV watched during August, though that share is likely to drop in September thanks to the return of college and NFL football.
The Olympics caused a ratings jump that broadcast TV doesn’t usually see until the fall, proving the popularity and draw of the games. NBC did its best to surround the games with a huge amount of coverage and has been rewarded handsomely with impressive viewership.
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,” “The Office,” and original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports and NBC programming, including the NFL, MLB, WWE, the Olympics, the Premier League, NASCAR, the French Open, college football and basketball, and the PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.