The first day of the Paris Summer Olympics on Saturday drew more than 32 million viewers in the United States across NBCUniversal's multiple platforms.
NBCUniversal’s coverage of the first day of the Paris Games on NBCUniversal, Peacock and other outlets was watched by 32.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics data released by NBCU on Sunday. That’s a strong performance given NBCU’s long and expensive commitment to the Olympics. Viewership for the first day of competition is up about 83% since the last Summer Games in Tokyo in 2021, which were challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. That event, which was held without crowds in the stands, drew 17.7 million viewers.
Peacock, which gives premium viewers the option to watch every Olympic event live for the first time, drew 4.7 million viewers on Saturday, according to NBCU.
NBC’s linear Olympic coverage on Saturday focused largely on the men’s and women’s swimming events, which resulted in three medals for U.S. athletes: a gold for Caeleb Dressel, a silver for Simone Manuel and a bronze for Katie Ledecky. The men’s soccer, beach volleyball and gymnastics qualifiers also aired live from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET on NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, E!, Paris Extra 1, Paris Extra 2 and more across NBCU’s digital platforms. Those events were replayed with some updates in primetime from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on NBC, Peacock and USA Network.
NBCUniversal has invested billions of dollars in U.S. Olympic broadcast rights as well as production and marketing costs for the Games. NBCU also hopes the Olympics will also be a big driver of new subscriptions for Peacock.
Saturday's strong attendance follows a strong attendance of more than 28 million viewers for the theatrical opening on Friday.
(Pictured: Caeleb Dressel, gold medalist for Team USA in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay)
