NBC touts biggest Opening Ceremonies audience in 12 years

NBC announced on Saturday that Friday’s Opening Ceremony for the Paris Olympics was the most watched in over a decade.

In a release shared on X (formerly Twitter) NBC Sports PR detailed that the Opening Ceremony was watched more than any since the London Olympics in 2012.

“Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony on NBC and Peacock is most watched since 2012, with 28.6 million viewers,” the announcement said.

The Olympics Are Back!

Huge Audience for Paris Opening Ceremony…https://t.co/zDkAepiZ8g pic.twitter.com/52JsYaAKEA

— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) July 27, 2024

NBC broadcast the Opening Ceremony twice. The first broadcast was live, which for most of the United States, was in the afternoon. The American audience then had a chance to watch the pre-recorded event again in prime time.

The ceremony was a hotly discussed topic, with several different parts of it being criticized for a variety of reasons. Other parts of the broadcast, notably Celine Dion’s performance, earned universal praise.

In addition to some of the hotly debated performances, the ceremony featured the parade of nations, with athletes riding in on boats on the Seine, France’s famed river. It also included the traditional torch relay, which even included non-French athletes like Spain’s Rafael Nadal, Romania’s Nadia Comăneci as well as Americans Carl Lewis and Serena Williams. The Olympic Cauldron was ultimately lit by Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Pierre-Marie Riner, past gold medalists in track and field and judo, respectively.

[NBC Sports PR on X]