Winter Olympics audience on NBC remains well ahead of Beijing pace

A more favorable time-zone difference and more favorable counting methods have NBC touting Winter Olympic viewership from Italy that paces well ahead of the Beijing Games four years ago.

According to data from Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, NBC is averaging 23.8 million viewers for their “primetime” coverage of the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, up 86% versus the same point in the Beijing Olympics four years ago (12.8 million viewers). However, NBC is counting viewers slightly differently this time around than how it counted viewers watching four years ago.

NBC’s “primetime” viewership figure includes a combined total of those watching live coverage in the afternoon and those watching the pre-produced replay in primetime. It’s the same way NBC measured its Paris Games two years ago, but different from how NBC is counting the last Winter Olympics in Beijing. Given the time difference, NBC is combining its primetime audience from Beijing with its live overnight coverage, which obviously clocks in much lower than live afternoon coverage.

Both methods risk the double-counting of viewers. Someone who happened to watch NBC’s live coverage of Milan in the afternoon, for instance, then also watched Primetime in Milan later that evening, would count as two viewers under NBC’s counting system. Viewers watching any of the live afternoon coverage on USA Network or CNBC are also counted in the overall “primetime” figure, making comparison between Milan and Beijing viewership even more convoluted.

Then, of course, there are the methodological changes that Nielsen has implemented in the years since Beijing 2022, including expanding out-of-home viewing measurements and introducing its Big Data figures into the sample.

Nevertheless, no matter how the measurements have changed, these are serious numbers NBC is putting up. Given the more favorable time zone, it’s no surprise that this year’s Olympics are beating Beijing. But 23.8 million viewers per day is a football-sized audience. And it’s why NBC places such a huge emphasis on the Olympics. These couple weeks every two years remain a major part of its overall sports portfolio, and for good reason.