Paris Olympics ratings up 82 percent over Tokyo Games

Viewership of the 2024 Paris Olympics averaged a combined 30.6 million per day for NBC Universal's daytime and primetime coverage, an 82 percent increase from the 2020 Tokyo Games, the company said.

The Tokyo Olympics, delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, averaged 16.9 million viewers on the NBC platforms.

In Tokyo, athletes participated in venues that were nearly empty, while the Paris Olympics offered a stunning backdrop, packed houses and scintillating competition. And viewers tuned in via both traditional NBC coverage and by streaming on Peacock and other digital platforms, which offered live events across every sport.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, viewers consumed 23.5 billion minutes of coverage on Peacock and other digital outlets -- 40 percent more than the combined total of all summer and winter Olympics to date through streaming.

Viewership on Spanish-language Telemundo also was up 26 percent over the Tokyo Olympics, per the report.

Saturday's gold-medal men's basketball game between the United States and France averaged 19.5 million viewers between NBC and Peacock. That's more than twice the number of people who watched the same two countries play for gold in Tokyo three years ago and the most since 1996, per The Hollywood Reporter.

"These Olympics have captivated Americans in huge numbers across NBCUniversal platforms," NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said in a statement. "Led by our best-in-class engineering and production teams in Paris and Stamford (Conn.), a staff of more than 3,000 worked tirelessly to present these reimagined Games in new and innovative ways. ... We are thrilled that Americans embraced and enjoyed the Paris Olympics as much as we have."

--Field Level Media